Parasite
by The Egyptian Lovers
Summary: As the final battle turns ill, Cloud and his companions mysteriously find themselves on earth, living off the bodies of unsuspecting hosts from across the planet. Lost and divided, they must learn to co-operate with their host counterparts and re-unite with one another in order to defeat the looming threat of Shinra and Sephiroth.
1. The Tournament

**Disclaimer: We own none of the characters from FF7, all characters are owned by SquareEnix. All events and other characters are purely fictional, and any similarites to real life happenings are purely coincidental.**

**On a nicer note: Hello all, welcome to a joint effort at a final fantasy seven fan fiction. Written by me (Robbie) and my good friend Allie (Millz isnt in on this one as she is not a final fantasy fan...curse her...grrrr). Enjoy the story! (Set in England after prologue, just incase u get confused)**

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Parasite

Prologue

"You know this is a battle we won't win!" Tifa shouted after just dodging an incoming attack.

_How about you stop complaining and start trying to kill him!? _Cloud thought to himself, though he did privately agree. The way the battle was going against Sephiroth was not how he had anticipated it. Perhaps he had been careless, thinking that eight of them alone were enough to match his extraordinary power.

He looked over at his companions that were on his left. A halo had just appeared over Yuffie's head, she then fell to her knees, completely weakened. This was quickly remedied by Vincent, who cured her immediately.

Cloud ran up to Sephiroth and struck, for all the good it did he would have had more luck casting some form of magic at him. Red XIII seemed to read his mind, as a second later a giant cloud of green mist engulfed Sephiroth.

The spell seemed to stun him, but it did not do enough proper damage to make any real difference to the fight itself. _God damn it…_

"Cait Sith!" Cloud called as Sephiroth struck at him with his blade. "Summon!"

He did not need telling twice, he summoned as soon as he was told. The ice queen Shiva came out of nowhere and used her diamond dust attack against him. Cloud was at a loss to work out why Cait Sith had use such a weak summon, but it seemed to do a little bit of good, even if it wasn't that much.

Cloud looked down at his wizards bangle, only to be met by a sight that he wished he would never have to see. His materia was starting to vanish right before his very eyes, which was definitely not good, as he was sure the only reason he was able to hold off Sephiroth's sword was because of his strength plus materia.

Sephiroth cast heartless angel on Tifa, who fell to the ground seconds after the halo had appeared above her head. Vincent was on the case immediately, he went to heal her, but then saw that his restore materia had vanished.

_Gimme a break! Things are already bad as it is and now we have to fight with no materia!? _This explained why Cait Sith did not summon something more powerful like bahamut, which would have turned the tables somewhat.

The fight was now going much worse than it was previously, if that was possible. Everyone was on critical health, and Sephiroth appeared to be toying with them more than anything now.

He seemed to be getting very bored with the fight if anything now. After a few more minutes of pointless fighting, during which the most damage they actually dealt to him was with Yuffie's Shuriken when he wasn't looking, Sephiroth seemed ready to end things.

"Give in to the darkness…" He said. His sword then pierced clouds heart.

_This is the end…_Cloud thought to himself, all of the fighting they had done to try and save the planet, and he couldn't even save himself.

He could hear his name being called from what seemed like miles away. Blackness started to blur his vision, and the last thing he could remember seeing before his vision was gone completely was Sephiroth's cocky smile.

"_The end? I don't think so…"_

-

_Sometimes even the strongest of men can be reduced to nearly nothing. One way to save yourself from death is to share somebody else's life, live a half life. Live like a mere parasite…_

Chapter One- The Tournament

"Hit! Points stand thus; the defending champion currently trails two points to three." There was applause from the audience. "The match will resume after a short break, please feel free to get refreshments from the bar."

Most of the audience members got to their feet and left the arena, only a few stayed where they were. The two contestants now had a chance for a short break, which was good because both of them were just about ready to pass out.

The shorter of the two removed their mask, revealing the face of a teenage girl. She had long brown hair which almost looked black and a relatively pale skin tone. She was sweating like mad from all of the fighting, and even though they were currently having a break she still looked as though she was in deep concentration.

The taller person did not remove their mask, so the girl did not see the glaring eyes that were hidden behind it.

"Not bad Alex…" The person who's voice this belonged to was that of a teenage boy, "…don't let it get to your head though, still a long way to go yet."

"Thanks…" She had a look on her face that quite clearly said. _Do you really think I'm that stupid?_ Then she went on to say, "…but you know me Josh, I'm not someone who lets a little victory go to their head."

Josh was a little bit taller than Alex and around the same build, which was slim yet strong. His hair was brown and all over the place, which was exactly how he liked it.

There was a snort from behind them. Looking round they saw the defending fencing champion. Evidently whoever it was wasn't used to losing. Josh looked as though he was about to go over to him and shout at him, but he was stopped.

"Don't bother…" Alex said, trying to keep the atmosphere friendly, "…he's not worth it."

"Goddamn son of a bitch…" Josh muttered so that only Alex could hear him, "…I swear I am going to…"

"Leave it…besides, do you really want to do something I don't want you to when I have a sword in my hand?" She raised the fencing sword so that it was pointing at Josh's face. It was clear that he definitely wasn't going to argue with her given the circumstances.

"Shame your parents couldn't come and see you in your hour of triumph…" Josh said, as though Alex had already beaten the champion and was receiving the trophy already, "…mind if I record your victory speech on my phone?"

"You know that if you do that you are going to need to buy a new phone don't you?" Josh did not need telling twice, if Alex didn't want you to do something and you did it just to annoy her she would retaliate.

People were starting to come back into the arena. Looking over at the clock on the far wall, Josh saw that there was only a couple of minutes left of the break. Alex seemed to notice this as well, yet she was so focused it did not seem to bother her, even though she was the one who was competing.

"I'm nervous for you…" Josh admitted, "…I think you've just about pissed him off enough for him to want to kill you, not beat you."

Alex shrugged of this comment, she didn't really seem to care at the moment. The only thing that was on her mind was winning the match and becoming the new champion. Every year she had tried to claim the title, yet until now she had never got into the final match against the reigning champion.

The referee took his place once more so he could see the match clearly. The commentator stood over by the scoreboard and picked up his microphone again, ready for the match to begin. Josh hurried off back to his seat.

The match was out of nine points, but since the two that were fighting were such accomplished swordsman each point went on for quite some time. Alex replaced her mask on her face and took her position, ready for the match to resume. To win she only had to score two more points, which sounded easy enough, but was certainly not easy when trying to accomplish it.

"Begin…play…enguarde!" Called the referee.

Alex wished that she would have listened to Josh's 'I think you've pissed him off' and took it in a much more serious way. Her opponent was attacking her so fiercely she was surprised that she lasted the twenty seconds of the point that she did. _All of that concentrating doesn't seem to be doing me any good now…_ This point went to the defending champion, but it was not going to throw her off.

"Everything is level!" Called the commentator.

The referee set the next point going. Again however she was defeated by a very hard blow to the stomach, which winded her despite the armour that she was wearing. She was losing, and in order for her to win she would have to get the next two points. Starting to doubt herself she already had thoughts coming into her mind of _Well, there's always next year… _Then however, another thought came into her head, which was completely unrelated to what she had just thought previously. _He's weak on uppercuts, so use that to throw him off-guard…_

Alex thought she was going mad, this had not been one of her own thoughts, or at least she didn't think it was. She was deciding whether or not to try this idea out, but then there was nothing to lose and everything to gain, so she may as well try this tactic.

"Enguarde!" The referee called, and before Alex knew it her opponent was yet again attacking her fiercely.

Alex started attacking furiously back at them, blocking all of the incoming strikes of her opponents. When the opportunity came, she uppercut him as hard as she could then lunged at his chest. This point was hers, leaving the ninth point to be the deciding one.

_He knows your tactic, the best thing to do now is to hit him with a variety of different attacks, then counter attack him when possible… _Alex never usually thought like this, which meant that the fact that she was now was positively unnerving.

The defending champion was now more pissed off than ever, but instead of fearing this Alex instead used this to her advantage. The fact that he was annoyed meant that he was becoming careless in his defensive strategies.

This point went on for at least two minutes, which was far longer than any other point had gone on for in the whole tournament. In the end however, all hope seemed to be lost for Alex as fatigue was now taking over. Out of nowhere however, she managed to muster up some sort of strength and using it managed to knock her opponent off guard. Seizing the opportunity she lunged at his upper torso. Somehow, miraculously, she had won, after years of trying to become the champion, she had finally done it.

"We have a new champion ladies and gentlemen!" The commentator shouted. There was a huge round of applause from the audience. Many of them got to their feet to applaud her, it was evident that she was the one the audience were backing, not the champion.

Alex took of her mask, revealing a very wide smile plastered on her face. The defeated champion threw his sword at the floor in frustration, the hilt broke because of this. Something then came across Alex's mind, she didn't know why, but she felt like she had somehow cheated.

"Way to go Alex!" Josh ran up to her and gave her a very big hug. The smile on her face had faded somewhat. "Game, set and match!"

"That's tennis you idiot!" She said to him in a joking way.

"Whatever, my brother now owes me money…" He then realised what he had said, "…because I knew you would win of course, he was saying how a girl would never make champion."

Alex smirked. "You can tell your brother that I am not your average girl now am I?" She raised her sword to a threatening sort of pose.

The commentator then walked over to her presenting the trophy that she had longed to have ever since she started fencing. Josh went so that she could savour her moment of glory, then snuck his phone out and set up the camera. She did not feel like saying anything to the crowd though, so refused the chance to use the microphone when offered it.

Josh was very disappointed at this, it would have been good to get a recording of the speech. Little did she know however that he had got a recording of her winning the match point.

The applause died down eventually, no-one else seemed to be as disappointed with the lack of speech, they just seemed happy that she won. The referee walked over to Alex and shook her hand, then whispered to her "Good game, I knew you could do it." Then he walked over to the defeated champion and shook his hand.

The audience started making their way out of the arena. Alex and Josh however stayed behind, Josh didn't want to stay however, it was Alex's idea.

"Why can't we just go?" He asked, though he feared that he already knew what the answer to this question was.

"Just hold on a minute…" She made her way over to the had-been champion, "…good match…" She held out a hand to shake his.

The person removed their mask. It was boy about the same age as Josh, only he didn't look nearly as happy as Josh currently was.

"Yeah, only next time you should let me know where you got the steroids so I can OD on them like you did!" Alex looked very hurt at these words, she would never cheat. Then without warning instead of shaking her hand he simply spat at it.

Josh seemed to lose his temper completely at this disgusting thing. He ran over to the sore loser and threw all of his force into a punch, only for it to be blocked by Alex's spit free hand.

"I told you he isn't worth it, if he wants to be a sore loser then let him…" Josh hated it when he was over powered by her, it made him look like such a weakling. This was not the case however, Alex was just very strong for a girl. She wiped her hand on her fencing outfit to get rid of the phlegm.

They left so they didn't have to endure any more accusations of cheating thrown at Alex. The two of them talked about the match, though Alex did not dare mention the fact that she had suddenly become very good at reading peoples weaknesses.

Josh was currently rambling on about something that Alex wasn't paying attention to. She was trying to work out just what exactly had happened. Usually when stuck in a situation where she was too tired to carry on she would have just given up, but this time was different, yet she did not know why.

"…and then when you nearly knocked that guy out in the semi finals…classic!" Alex grunted to let him know that she had heard him produce a sound. "You aren't listening are you?"

She did manage to understand this phrase, and thought that honesty would be best. "No, I'm not, well spotted Einstein." Alex was always known for her very bad sarcasm.

When outside the arena they started walking in the direction of their homes. There did not live very far away, it was only around a ten minute walk. The tournament had finished later than had been anticipated, meaning it was darker out side than they had expected it to be.

They reached Alex's house first. "I suppose I will see you tomorrow then?" Josh asked her.

"If I recover…" She joked back, giving a small chuckle, "…see ya Josh."

She turned and went up to her house, then entered. Nobody was home at the moment, they were all visiting relatives for the weekend, which meant that they would be home later that night. Alex was a little upset that she couldn't go with them, but the tournament meant everything to her.

The first thing she did when she got to her room was place her trophy on her shelf. It had taken her years to get it there, but now that she had she felt surprisingly sad, the feeling that she had cheated, even though she knew she couldn't have, was still with her.

Alex went and had a shower, she always did after either training or having some sort of match or tournament. The water seemed to help clear her thoughts of cheating and help her think more rationally, there was after all no way she could have cheated.

After her shower she then got undressed and went to bed. The trophy gleamed in the moonlight. She was so exhausted that it took no time at all for her to fall into a peaceful sleep…

-

_**Where the hell am I?**__ Alex thought to herself. She had never been to this place before, and she was always uncomfortable with being somewhere that she was not familiar with. Come to think of it, she did not know how in the world she had got there…_

_She was sitting on what appeared to be some sort of large well. Studying her surroundings carefully, she saw that she was in a village, at least that was what it appeared to be. There were several houses, and an enormous mansion._

_Alex looked for a way to get down off the well as it was quite high up off the ground. There was no way however, so she had no choice but to jump. The landing hurt her heels a bit, but not too badly._

"_There's no place like home, is there?" Alex jumped, whoever had said this was very close by and it took her completely by surprise. "I'm sure you know what I mean, you go away for a bit and you do tend to get homesick…"_

"_Who's there!?" Alex called into the night. She started to shiver due to a mixture of the cold and fear that she was feeling. There was no answer, she wondered whether or not to call out again, but it was late at night and she would surely wake the people who were trying to sleep._

_Suddenly, the voice spoke again. "Does that really matter? You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway…"_

_The voice belonged to a woman. She sounded as though she was about to start crying at any moment. "Try me." Alex called, now not caring if she woke anyone up or not. "Or better still, why don't you show yourself!?" _

_There was the sound of footsteps approaching, but Alex could not tell which direction they were coming from. She looked round wildly to try and see who this woman was, yet she saw no-one, it was as though they must have been invisible._

_Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder, a hand. Alex wanted to turn round and look at whoever it was, but for some reason she could not move, it was as though she had been rooted to the spot as if by magic._

_Whoever it was started walking very slowly round to the front of them. Alex could not even turn her head to see this person, she could only wait until they were in her sight. Then the woman to whom the voice belonged to came into her view, but who it was was definitely not who Alex was expecting._

_**This is impossible…**__She thought to herself._

-

Alex woke with a start. Cold sweat was running down her forehead, and she could remember the dream she had just had as though it was her most treasured memory. She looked over at her radio alarm clock on her bedside table. It was two in the morning. _They must be back by now…_

She got up and went into the bathroom. Going over to the sink she started to run the cold tap, and then splashed some water on her face to clear the sweat. Alex studied her reflection in the mirror, she looked absolutely dreadful, as though she had just seen some sort of ghost.

"It was only a dream…" She muttered to herself, "…why am I acting like this?"

She turned off the tap and went over to the door to leave. Little did she know that a pair of brown eyes were watching her sympathetically as she left.

Alex did not manage to get back to sleep again for a very long time that night, even though she was absolutely knackered. She just laid there awake, replaying the dream over and over in her mind. It had been so real, yet she knew that it couldn't be real, it wasn't possible for dreams to be reality. Alex decided that the best way to get back to sleep would be to listen to her Ipod, music usually did help.

It did not help this time however, if anything it just accompanied the film-like thoughts in her mind like a soundtrack to a movie. She looked over at the clock, she only had 2 hours before she had to get up again. _This is so stupid! It was just a dream…I've had worse dreams than that! _These thoughts did not ease her suffering at all.

After another ten minutes she finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A thought came into her head during her sleep which was definitely not hers._ Why is this happening to me…?

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Hope you liked the first chapter, please R&R. Constructive Crit welcome!

R&A


	2. The Face in the Mirror

Chapter Two- The Face in the Mirror

Alex slowly opened her eyes to the sound of her alarm clock. She was thankful that it was a Saturday, because she really did not feel like going into college. The first thing that caught her eye was the fencing trophy that she had won. The happiness that she had felt came back to her in a sudden rush, but it quickly faded at the thought of the dream that she had the previous night.

She gave her head a little shake to clear this thought. Surprisingly she did not feel like staying in bed, which was unusual as she did not get very much sleep at all. Quickly getting out of bed and getting dressed she made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

For some weird reason she felt wide awake as she went into the bathroom. She went over to the sink and put toothpaste on the brush, as usual. Something happened then which made Alex freak out completely. After about thirty seconds of brushing, she looked in the mirror to see not her own face, but someone else's, and she had a terrible feeling that she knew precisely who this someone else was.

She started to gag on the toothpaste which had hit the back of her throat when she saw the face. Leaning over the sink and coughing violently, Alex quickly recovered and looked back into the mirror. To her relief she saw only herself. _I am going to need to see a shrink… _She thought. _…I'm going mad…_

Alex then cupped her hands and filled them with cold water to splash her face with. Little did she know that as she did this she was being watched. She stared at her face in the mirror, as if seeing whether or not it was going to change again. Fortunately it stayed the same…

-

"Saturday…" Josh said to himself, "…thank god…"

Saturday had to be his favourite day of the week. Nothing much to do except sit around and be lazy, which had to be one of the things Josh did best. Today however he felt like doing something completely different, after all, sitting around and doing nothing can get boring after a while.

He thought about ringing Alex, but then remembered that she would probably be asleep because she was so tired form the match. All of a sudden however, his mobile started to ring. Looking over at the name that was displayed he was surprised to see that it was none other than Alex.

He answered it, confused. "Hello…?"

"You are not going to believe what just happened to me!" Alex said in a very weird tone of voice.

"You just woke up…?" Josh joked, his bad sarcasm kicking in. "Because that is perfectly believable."

"No you idiot!" Alex snapped. "I just brushed my teeth…"

"Still believable…" Josh cut in, he could tell that she was going to get very annoyed if he kept interrupting her like this, "…I'm not bouncing off the walls in surprise yet…"

There was silence between the two of them. Alex was having second thoughts about telling him what she saw. After all, she had already said that he would not believe it, and this was probably true. Come to think of it, what was the point in bothering him with a stupid hallucination that she had after just waking up?

"Doesn't matter, I'm being stupid…" Josh was going to say the same thing to her when he remembered the very short temper that she had, "…so what are you doing today?"

"Nothing much…" He replied, thinking it best not to mention that he was in an extremely energetic mood, "…don't suppose you fancy meeting up and just doing…" He had no clue what he wanted to do, "…whatever…anything…"

"Could go shopping?" Alex asked, glad that she could get her mind off of things with this subject.

_Oh god no…_ Josh thought to himself. This had to be one of his least favourite things to do ever. It was always the same when he went shopping with Alex. She would drag him into some clothes shop, get him to try on half of what they had in there, and then force him to buy half of what he tried on. However given the fact that Alex seemed to be acting very strangely indeed, perhaps doing this for her would be the right thing to do.

"Yeah, sounds good…" He replied after thinking this through, "…meet you at the shopping centre in an hour, ok?"

"Ok, see you then." There was the 'beep beep beep' sound you hear when a call is disconnected, and Josh put down his phone.

He noticed that he was still not dressed, and had to get ready to go out in the space of an hour. This was going to be one hell of a task. Fortunately however, he managed to just about get though his normal morning routine and have fifteen minutes left to run to the shopping centre and meet up with Alex.

It was fortunate that he was in such a rush. If he was taking his time he may have actually noticed the pair of greyish green eyes staring at him menacingly. It was luckier still that he did not take the unusual dream that he had so seriously, perhaps that was why it wasn't as clear in his mind as Alex's dream was in hers.

He rushed out of the front door as fast as he could. If he ran it was only a ten minute trip, but if he walked then he would be late, and he hated to be late for anything, except for lessons. If he was ever late for lessons at college, he just didn't bother going to them, not because he did not like them, but because walking in late always made him look stupid. It was lucky he had good stamina, otherwise the running would have probably killed him.

-

_Grrr, why the hell didn't I tell him…? _Alex thought to herself whilst waiting outside the entrance to the large shopping centre. _He's my best friend, he wouldn't have laughed at me…or would he? _She hated it when she had arguments with herself in her mind, which did not happen very often at all.

She spotted Josh running down the stairs towards her. It was clear that he had rushed to get there. Alex tried to look as calm as she possibly could, which was much easier now that she was doing something to keep her mind off of things.

He finally reached her. "Sorry…I'm…late…" He panted, getting a lot of very strange looks from passers by. He didn't really care though.

"You're not late…" Alex informed him, "…come on, let's get going."

"Can't I have a moment to catch my breath?" He asked, almost as though he was pleading.

"Nope." Alex replied, very bluntly indeed. "I'm eager to get some weight out of my wallet."

Josh was very envious of her. It was lucky for her that she had so much money to spend without even having a job, where as he had to work for his money. They immediately made their way to Alex's favourite shop in the whole place. It was the same usual routine that they usually went through, Alex shoved shirt after shirt, jeans after jeans and jackets after jackets into Josh's arms to go and try on.

For once however, she actually handed him a Jacket that he liked the look of, and went to try it on immediately. He stood in front of one of the mirrors that were dotted around the shop, unfortunately the jacket did not go with the shirt he was wearing. Alex was quickly on the case however, she went and picked out one that she thought would go.

"Go and put it on then!" She pestered him.

Josh made his way to one of the changing rooms. All of them were empty. He went in the one nearest to him and shut the door. It was very lucky that he shut the door, because anyone who saw the look on his face when he looked in the mirror that was in there would have thought that he was some sort of lunatic.

He was transfixed at the image he saw in the mirror, convinced that he was hallucinating. He shut his eyes tight and looked back in the mirror, the image was still there, the man in the mirror still looking at him menacingly with his misty eyes. Josh shut his eyes for a good ten seconds this time, sure that it was something to do with him being in such a hurry not that long ago. When opening them once more, the man had gone, and he could only see himself in the mirror. He looked extremely pale and scared looking.

Josh left the changing rooms straight away, not even bothering to try on the shirt, but then who can blame him. He went straight over to Alex, speechless.

"What happened to you?" She asked, concerned for him.

"I…" He couldn't say 'Just saw someone in the mirror that wasn't me', she would either laugh at him or call him crazy, "…looked terrible, sorry but your fashion sense didn't work this time."

Alex gave him a quick jab in the ribs, obviously thinking that this was meant to be some sort of stupid joke, not a quick cover up for the real story.

"I feel sick…" Josh said, truthfully. This was a very sudden change in attitude.

"Go to the toilet…" He had already ran from the shop before she had time to finish her sentence, "…then…"

Alex quickly left the shop. There were a bunch of teenagers near her laughing, but Alex didn't care, they looked like the typical bunch of idiots that you saw around anyway.

She made her way to the public toilets that were in the centre. It was a good ten minutes before Josh came out of them. He looked terrible, as though he had just seen a dead relative's ghost.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"I need to go home…" He said straight away after she had finished asking her question, "…I must have pushed myself to much to get here on time, I don't feel so good."

He couldn't tell her the truth of why he wanted to go, she wouldn't believe him if he did. The only thing he could do was to go home, lie down and sleep, then hope that when he woke up everything would go back to normal.

_Pathetic, you are so weak minded…_ He thought to himself, but then wondered why he thought such a thing. He shook his head, which must have looked very peculiar, as Alex then asked.

"What did you do that for?" Josh did not really have a decent answer for this.

"Have you…" He started, wondering the best way to phrase his question, "…have you ever had that feeling where you just think the most random thoughts?"

"Only when I'm trying to sleep." She replied, surprising quicker than he had expected her too.

"I must be tired then…" He said, glad that they were off the topic of his sudden sickness, "…I know we haven't been here long but I just need to go and lie down…"

Alex looked quite upset by this, but then again she knew that this wasn't really his favourite thing to do. Yet then again she knew that he would not fake illness just so he didn't have to go shopping with her, which definitely was not like him at all.

"Ok…I'll give you a call later, hopefully you will be feeling better." Josh didn't say anything, just gave her a big hug and left.

She stood there on her own, then for some unknown reason felt dreadfully sick. It was lucky that she was standing outside the toilets, otherwise she did not think that she would have made it to them in time.

-

Josh walked slowly down the road towards his house. He was still a fair distance away from it, and it was slow work considering how bad he felt. After about another minute of walking he had to stop. He leaned against a garden wall and started coughing very violently. It sounded as though it was a smoker's cough, but Josh definitely did not smoke.

His vision started to blur. He thought that he was going to pass out, but he didn't, he just kept walking towards his house, determined to get home and rest. Josh thought that rest was all he needed to clear his head of whatever this was.

It was as though he was half blind as he walked down the empty street. _Come on…nearly there…_ He just had to keep thinking this to himself to get the motivation to make it home. This was a bit of a stupid thing to think though, at the pace he was going it was going to take at least ten minutes to get there.

His sight started to get a little bit better, though not by much. He struggled onwards in this terrible state for what seemed like a lifetime, until at last he found himself outside his front door. It was unlocked, which was good as he did not think he would be able to manage to get the key into the lock. As soon as he was inside he pulled himself up the stairs and went into his bedroom.

He collapsed on his bed immediately. _Absolutely pathetic…I mean honestly, I think the last time I saw someone as pathetic as you was two years ago…_Wherever these thoughts came from Josh didn't care, all that mattered was that he was in bed, resting. Sleep eventually came to him, which was exactly what he thought he needed to clear his head.

-

"Hey dad, could you come and pick me up from town? Cheers, see you in a few minutes…love you too, bye…" Alex put her phone away and waited.

All she could think about were the strange things that were happening all of a sudden. She did not want to think about what had happened this morning with the mirror, she was sure that was just tiredness getting the better of her. Then again, she wasn't tired at all, so this couldn't be right.

_It's all in your head…_Alex thought, trying to convince herself that this was true, _…it's all in your head…_

_Too true…_ Said a voice in her mind. Alex was feeling too ill to really take any notice of this, _...if I had my way though, I would be talking to you face to face, but when I tried to do that earlier you seemed a little shocked._

Alex closed her eyes to try and find an ounce of sanity within her. "I'm turning skitso…" She muttered to herself, "…It's all in your head…"

_You are not turning skitso! _The voice shouted at her angrily. _Though I can't really say for sure what it is that has happened to you…_The voice put a particular emphasis on the word 'has', _…or me for that matter._

Her vision started to blur, her legs started to go completely numb. Alex then fell to her knees and started to heave violently. She heard her name being called by a man who sounded like her dad. Giving in completely to whatever feeling this was, she passes out.

-

_And who are you exactly? Alex couldn't hear or feel anything, all that existed was blackness and the voice in her head._

_I thought that you worked that out by now…The voice said to her, giving a small laugh …I mean I am inside your head you know, and I do remember you thinking my name when seeing me… _

_You're reading my thoughts!? Alex thought angrily, thinking that her privacy was now completely invaded by this unknown person._

_In a sense…yes! Otherwise how would we be communicating now if we could not read each others thoughts, eh? Alex thought that this was common sense. You can see my thoughts as well you know. Here…let me show you…_

_The blackness went to be replaced by the same town that she had seen in her dream. This time however, she could see the woman instead of just hearing her…_

"_Welcome to my home town." She said to her, brushing her long black hair out of her face._

_Alex looked around the town. It was exactly how she remembered it from her dream, though still she thought that she had seen this place before. "What is this place called?"_

"_I know that you don't need me to answer that…" The woman said, evidently reading her mind again, "…the name is fresh in your mind, so why are you asking me?"_

"_Just to make sure I'm not dreaming…" Alex replied, her voice shaking._

"_But you are dreaming, that's the problem…" This did make some sense, after all Alex had just passed out on the street, "…how else am I meant to talk with you face to face?"_

_Alex did not reply. She could not think of anything to say, the whole thing was just too surreal to be happening. In the end she walked closer to the woman. "I thought you were going to tell me the name of this town?"_

"_Fine…" It was clear she didn't really want to waste her breath on this, "…even though you know the name already, I will confirm it, this town is called 'Nibel'."_

_Alex was right after all. "And what is your name?" She knew perfectly well what her name was, but just needed to hear her say it for some reason._

"_My name is…"_

-

Alex woke up. She was in her bedroom, lying down. Nobody else was in the room, just her. Alex remembered everything that just happened very clearly, as though it was real. She did not want to sleep again for fear of returning to that same place, all she could do was lay there awake, trying to keep her mind as blank as possible…


	3. Calm Mind, Calm Body

Chapter 3- Calm Mind, Calm Body

Sunday came and went in what seemed like no time at all. Monday morning was here, and the sun was filling the room through the crack in the curtains, as Alex lay there in bed, knowing that she would have to get up soon if she wanted to be ready for college in time. She had not asked her dad what had happened to her after she had passed out, but could pretty much assume that she had been brought back home and put in her bed.

It was not however the fact that she was still sleepy that kept her in bed, it was the thoughts of the dream that she had had the night before last. These dreams were now happening to often, and she wondered if she ought to confide in someone about it, or perhaps get some help from a doctor. This seemed like a stupid idea to her, there was no point worrying other people with such little things, it was probably just her mind running away with her...but even so, that seemed like a scary thought on its own.

Then there was Josh. What had happened to him on Saturday to all of a sudden make him sick? Alex had tried to call him later that day, yet had got no reply, and therefore assumed that he was resting. Perhaps he had just come down with the flu virus...

Alex looked at the clock on her bedside table, and was shocked to see that she only had ten minutes to get ready for college. It was a close call, but by the time she had got all of her things together and was out of the door she seemed to be OK for time. She walked down the road towards Josh's house, which was on the way to college. The cold air on her face seemed to act as a much better alarm clock than the one that woke her up that morning.

It took her a couple of minutes to reach Josh's house, and was surprised to see that when she got there, he was already waiting for her outside his front gate. She approached him, a curious look on her face.

"I thought that you were ill?" She asked him, taken aback at how healthy he looked.

"Good morning to you too!" He replied, sarcasm evident in his voice. "Nah I'm fine...probably just a twenty four hour bug or something..."

Alex did not know whether he was being entirely truthful or not, but decided not to press the matter. They started there walk down the street towards college, not talking at all. Alex decided to break the silence between them after a couple of minutes.

"Why haven't you answered any of my calls or texts?" She sounded a little hurt as she asked the question.

"I didn't answer any of your calls because I was probably being sick at the time..." Josh answered, but seemed to be taking his time, as though thinking up an excuse for texts, "...and I was sleeping most of the time that I wasn't being sick, so I could hardly text you back in my sleep could I?"

This seemed to be a satisfactory answer for Alex. They continued to walk, but the image of Alex's latest dream kept popping into her head. She tried to push them to the back of her mind, with no success. All she could think of was how mad it would sound to confide this to anyone, even Josh. This was put to the test however, as Josh then said.

"What's up with you?" He sounded concerned.

"Nothing." She lied, not able to stop herself blinking furiously. "I was just thinking about an assignment that we were given not that long ago for Photography."

"You are a terrible liar, you know that?" He had to duck quickly to avoid Alex hitting him over the head. "Come on, just tell me whats wrong for once."

"I would, but there is nothing wrong and therefore nothing to tell you." Her voice made it sound quite plain that Josh was not going to get anywhere in his endeavors to find out what was troubling her.

The college was in sight now, but there was hardly anyone walking towards it. Evidently they were earlier than they thought upon arriving, something that Josh was not happy about in the slightest.

"Could have had another ten minutes in bed..." He grunted, sounding a bit like a child on the verge of having a tantrum.

Alex did not feel like pointing out that it was not her that woke him up, and that he was already waiting for her for once. They were just about to enter the college when something happened...A child on a skateboard was coming down the pavement towards them very fast. Alex did not think that he could see the crack in the path ahead of him from roadworks, otherwise he would have slowed down by now.

He rode straight over it, came flying off of his skateboard, and then...Alex did not know what happened, it was as though her arm had acted of its own accord. An inch before the child's face was about to his the hard concrete pavement, Alex had seized a handful of his shirt, preventing harm.

Josh did not seem to know what to say, as he watched Alex hoist the young boy back onto his feet.

"Next time be more careful and look where you are going, OK?" The child did not say anything as he ran off to get his skateboard, which had continued to roll down the path.

"Effing good reflexes..." Josh muttered whilst looking at Alex.

"Well...thats what comes from fencing I guess..." She replied, sounding nearly as shocked as Josh looked.

"Sure..." Josh said, not really knowing what to say, then started quietly singing a song just loud enough for her to hear, "...Spider-woman...spider-woman...I think my spider senses are tingling..."

"Thats not going to be the only thing thats tingling if you don't shut up!" She said, aiming a kick at him.

They entered college. They had a few minutes before they had to head off to their lessons, so went and sat down up against a brick wall not far from the Drama Department. "But seriously though, I did not know that you had spider-man as a distant relation..."

Alex did not even bother answering this one back, she knew that he was just jealous of her quick reflexes, even though she herself did not know how she had managed to do it. There were only a couple of minutes left until first period. Josh had Drama, so did not have to go very far to get to his lesson, Alex however, had Photography, which was right over the other side of college, and therefore had to start walking.

"Don't forget to drop the pictures you take by the Daily Bugle..." Alex could not help but let out a snort as she headed off towards Photography.

-

Josh walked into the drama room to find three people already there. Their teacher, Meg Beecham, who was sorting through a load of complicated looking notes, his friend Joe, who was busy writing a text, and his friend Claire, who was sitting on a desk, swinging her legs back and forth.

The rest of the class filed into the room as time went on. It was very rare for Drama to ever start on time, as people were always late, and some people regularly didn't bother turning up. Today however, everybody had turned up, as they had an assignment that needed to be performed today, otherwise they got a fail.

"Right..." Said Meg, "...now that we are all here, I am going to give you twenty minutes to rehearse, and then you will be performing."

The class set to work on their short scenes that they were doing. They had been assigned to do an extract from a Shakespearian play of their choice. When first told this, no-one was enthusiastic about the idea, but when Joe had suggested they do a swordfight scene, Josh's interest had increased at once.

They ran through their five minute piece of Drama about three times, which happened to be the scene from Romeo and Juliet where Romeo kills Tybalt. Josh was in a group with Claire, Joe, and a girl who he had never spoken to before. Naturally Josh and Joe were the ones actually doing the swordfighting, which had not taken too much time to choreograph.

The twenty minutes had passed, and Meg told them all to sit down over one side of the room, so as to create a sort of 'stage' for the people performing. Claire was talking to one of her friends, yet when she turned away to talk to Josh, she looked mortified.

"You do know that this has to be at least seven minutes long don't you!?" She sounded quite hysterical.

"No problem...we will just have to slow down some of the dialogue..." Josh replied.

"We will sound like we are in slow motion if we slow it down any more than we already have!" Joe said, obviously not as calm about this as Josh was. "We will just have to improvise a bit more swordfighting...but just make sure that we..."

"Quiet!" Meg called, as the first group took their positions and started their scene.

It was impossible for them to talk about rough choreography for another two minutes of fighting now. So they were resigned to the fact that they were going to have to improvise the whole thing.

When at last it got round to their groups turn, Claire looked as though she was about to go on stage at the west end for the first time. They started to perform their scene, until at last four minutes had passed and they got to the swordfight between Romeo and Tybalt.

The minute of their choreography that they had done went off without a hitch, but now they were in to the realms of the unknown. Joe kept repeating some of the actions from the first minute they had done, which Josh found quite east to follow. He even thought that they may just be able to pull this off after all.

Then it happened..._ This is pathetic..._ The voice in Josh's head threw him off guard completely, and Joe happened to be lunging quite dangerously towards his chest. Then however, Josh moved aside out of the direction of the blow, and then struck and Joe's sword with such force that it knocked it clean out of his hands, and flew straight at Claire, who only just ducked in time to avoid a serious injury.

It did not stop here however, because then he whacked the sword very hard at Joe's stomach. It was very lucky that the swords were fake, otherwise he would have been cut clean in half. Joe fell to the floor, it was obviously not very difficult for him to pretend to be dead considering what had just happened to him.

The seven minutes were up, and Meg called at them to stop. There was an applause from the rest of the class, but Josh was too focused on Joe. He knelt down beside him to see if he was OK.

Joe looked up at him. "Jesus...you didn't have to hit me that hard, you know?" Josh was very glad to see that he was smiling.

"It did look friggin good though!" Claire said, evidently feeling better than she was prior to the performance.

"Yes..." Said Meg, "...But please do remember Josh that this is a Drama class, not the fencing club..."

-

"Nothing to strenuous for you today..." Began their teacher, "...just go off and continue with pictures towards your collage, which remember, is meant to be reflecting your personality." Alex rolled her eyes at this, as she felt as though she had split personality's at the moment.

She set off to work however, wondering what would be best to photograph. In the end she decided that the best place for her to go would be near the drama department, to see if she could get a shot of Josh.

When she got to the drama department however, she saw that they were doing some performance's, and to take a picture through the window whilst they were doing this would be very rude indeed. She moved back from the classroom window, and saw that the sun was in a very nice position above the drama building. She decided that even though it did not reflect her personality, it would still make a very nice picture to add to her portfolio.

Alex continued to walk around college, taking pictures of whatever caught her fancy. After all, if she liked them then she was sure that it would reflect her personality. She checked her watch, and saw that she did not have long before she had to get back to start developing her pictures.

She was not very fond of the dark room, and much preferred doing the editing digitally. However she was not allowed for this assignment and therefore went into the dark room, and started to work on developing her pictures.

Nothing interesting happened until right near the end of the lesson. She was looking down at her latest photo, and in the reflection of the water, saw the same woman from her dream. Alex did not dare blink, she wanted to keep staring at it to make sure that she was not just seeing things. The woman then however appeared to be looking over Alex's shoulder. Someone had decided to play a practical joke to see if they could scare Alex by sneaking up on her. She spun round very fast and dealt them a hard blow to the stomach, which winded them...She did not know what made her do it though...was it just a reflex...or was it something more than that?

Alex could not stop stammering her apologies for what she had done. "I am so sorry...it was a reflex..."

"S'ok..." They replied, "...my fault for scaring you in the first place I guess..." Alex was very glad to hear that they did not hate her for what she had done.

-

Alex and Josh both finished at lunchtime that day, so therefore met up near the entrance of the college. Alex looking thoughtful, Josh looking very happy.

"You will not believe what happened in drama!" Josh began, then went straight into the story of what happened during his swordfight against Joe... "So you better watch out because now I'm thinking of taking up fencing..."

This last comment seemed to catch Alex's attention. "Cool! That would actually be really good, the two of us could train together and stuff..." Josh was glad that she was taking to this well.

They started to walk back in the direction of their homes. Alex had decided to go round Josh's for a bit, as she did not feel like going back to her house. "So how did Photography go?"

Alex did not feel like telling him the story of how she had punched someone in the gut for something so small...She was sure that he would hear about it eventually however, news always traveled very fast round college.

It was as they were walking past the local park that something very strange happened. There were some people playing football there. As they walked past them, one of the players called...

"Watch out!" Josh turned his head just in time to see the football flying towards his face. With incredible speed he raised his fist and punched the ball back at the players with surprising strength, making it go into the far goal.

"Whoa! Thanks mate!" Called one of the players, who obviously hadn't noticed just how far away from them Josh and Alex were.

"How the hell did you do that?" Alex asked, but Josh already had an answer for her.

"Good reflexes I suppose." He decided that it would be best to use her answer back at her. To tell the truth, he did not actually know how he had managed to do that, and not even hurt his fist in the process.

_You wish..._ Said a voice in his head, which he did not think was his own. Eventually they reached Josh's house. The incident with the football still the topic of conversation, even though it was not extraordinary, just out of the ordinary.

"You have never had good reflexes though..." Alex said, trying not to sound mean, "...so how all of a sudden have you managed to pull that out of the bag?"

"Maybe that lovely bug that I had has given me amazing superhero powers!" He then went into a superman pose, and Alex swatted him over the back of the head in a playful sort of way.

"The only thing that is superhero about you is your power to sleep for as long as you want." Alex replied, scratching the side of her head. Josh tried to swat her over the back of the head, with no success, she caught his wrist at the last second, as always.

They took the rest of the day to relax and play games on Josh's PS2. Neither of them really felt like going into town or doing anything that required to much effort. Even though they did not tell each other, they were both very tired from their day, even though the had not done very much at all. It was just as they were fighting each other on Tekken 4, that a thought came in to Alex's head, which was not her own, much like a lot of thoughts that she had had recently.

_I wonder where the others are...if they are safe..._


	4. Ignorance is Bliss

So so so so so so so so so so sorry! We will get better, promise! This chapter has inspired us to write more (its been our fave to write so far). Also, anyone interested might like to know we will shortly be staring a guild wars fan fiction...now that is gonna be one heck of a challange! Anyways, enjoy chapter four!

* * *

Chapter 4- Ignorance is Bliss

It was Friday at last...the week had felt more like a month to both Josh and Alex. There had been some strange incidents occurring all week, and they had been making the two friends feel very uneasy. Besides Josh's amazing reflex's that he had now somehow gained, he had also demonstrated knowledge unlike his in all of his lessons. This was a very unusual thing to happen, as Josh was not exactly the brightest of people.

When it came to Alex, she had demonstrated some kind of strength unknown to her during her last fencing class. It was strange, but ever since that tournament she had become different both physically and mentally. It was true, that she was strong before the tournament and still a force to be reckoned with, but now even the most tough people in the college were afraid of her abilities. During one of her lessons she even managed to beat her teacher, who happened to be ranked with the top in the country. Her teacher of course said that she had gone easy on Alex, but everyone present to the event was convinced she was lying.

"Well...to think I was going to join your class..." Josh said, obviously thinking about this very event.

It was lunchtime now. Josh had finished for the day, yet Alex still had two hours to go. She smiled a very nervous smile when she heard Josh say this. She could not help but feel like she had somehow cheated during the 'fight' against her teacher. The whole thing had started off as a little bet amongst all of the class, as they were eager to see who was the better fighter between the two of them. They had been curious of this ever since Alex had won the tournament.

Alex knew of course that she had not cheated, perhaps she was just being modest...or perhaps she believed that her teacher had gone easy on her. "You still should...I'm eager to see if you are as good as you claim to be!"

Josh knew that Alex had not fully believed him about the incident on Monday, yet decided to ignore her. If she didn't believe him then that was her problem. "You know what...I think I will! But first I am going to go home and relax, whilst you have to stay here for another..."

He checked his watch, but Alex cut him off before he had the chance to finish his sentence. "No need to rub it in that you have more free time than me..." Josh knew that she was joking about this and didn't really have a problem with it.

_His problem for the lack of intellect he seems to posses... _Alex shook her head, if she did not know better she would have thought she was going schizophrenic. This was another one of those many thoughts she was getting recently that did not seem like her own. Everything seemed to link back to the tournament, as this was when they first started.

"Well...shouldn't you be getting off to your lesson then?" Josh was clearly still savoring the fact that he had an amazing timetable.

"Yep, give me a call later when you know that I have finished...I don't want you to call me in lesson...again!" She started to walk off.

Josh turned and headed towards the college exit to start his short walk home.

_You really shouldn't take orders from a girl you know... _Josh ignored this thought...he did not know why he would think such a thing about his best friend...besides which he was not sexist. _Are you even listening to me!?_

Josh shook his head to try and rid himself of this ridiculous thoughts. Without success, they kept on coming, as though expecting him to answer as though to the other side of an argument. _You can't ignore me forever you helpless child!_

The next thought was a deliberate one of Josh's, deciding that he would play the mad fool and answer to this mysterious voice in his head...although he was sure it was just because he was overworked that he was hearing things. _Who the hell are you calling a child!?_

Even though he did not say this out loud he felt stupid for even thinking it. It was all becoming too much for him, seeing things, hearing things, nightmares...all too much. To his complete surprise however, the voice answered.

"_Finally...you are showing a little bit of defiance..." _Josh did not really feel like arguing with himself, it just felt too weird.

He continued to walk, yet the voice did not cease to talk to him. Eventually there was one question in particular that caught his attention. _"Are you not frightened of me?"_

This question stumped him so much that it actually made him stop dead in his tracks, which must have looked very peculiar to passers by. To make up for this he decided to take out his phone, as if to text someone. Instead however, he just replied to the voice. _Why would I be afraid of my own mind?_

The voice in his head was obviously very cunning considering its next answer. _"Do not answer my question with a question boy...are you frightened of me...!?"_

Josh ignored this, he could not be bothered to answer. He walked on, and to his surprise the voice did not continue to pester him anymore. Then, without warning, his hand felt as though it had been taken over. He swung with an unnatural force at a nearby brick wall, crumbling some of the bricks and causing a terrible pain in his right hand.

He did not however let out a cry of pain, it was as though something was constricting his throat so that he could not scream or speak. "_Perhaps now you will answer me?"_

Josh was pretty sure that one of his fingers had broken, the pain coming from his middle finger was unbearable. _Yes_.

-

_You really do have a weird choice of friends, you know that? _

"Shut up, shut up, shut up..." Alex muttered to herself. She was in the middle of a practice paper for an exam that she had coming up, and she really didn't need voices talking to her about her choice of friends while she was trying to concentrate.

_Oh, and by the way, you are working out the mean remember, not the mode..._ Not entirely sure whether or not this was one of her thoughts or not, Alex looked back at the question and saw that it was meant to be the mean.

Maths had to be one of the most dull subjects that her parents forced her into taking at college. She wasn't exactly the best at it, and she did not enjoy it in the slightest. In her opinion all it was doing to her was adding to all of the pressure she was already getting from college.

When finally she had finished the practice paper and the lesson had ended, she went to buy herself a cup of coffee to try and clear her head...and also of course to keep her going on her journey home. She was not sure if she could stay awake much longer. Things were not always like this, it was only since she was hardly getting any sleep due to these unusual dreams she was having.

Recently however, the dreams did not seem to be as bad as they were previously. It was as though her mind was learning to shut them out, as though they were unwanted guests. The voices she was hearing in her head however were unblock able...

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she walked straight into someone. "Whoa Alex, watch where ya going gal!"

Looking up into the person who she had almost steamed over, she saw that it was someone from her photography class whose name was... "Shaun! Sorry about that...was thinking..."

"Never would have guessed...the way you looked I wouldn't have been surprised if your jacket had caught fire and you didn't notice!" Shaun was one of those people that was not always as cocky as people would think on first meeting. He was rather tall, with spiky dark hair and dark brown eyes to match. Alex considered him a friend, yet for some reason he was either not overly popular recently, or he just preferred his own company.

"Well..." Alex said, clearly struggling to find conversation.

"Yeah..." Shaun replied, "...well I have some work that I've gotta do...catch ya later Alex!" He winked at her, then walked briskly off in the opposite direction to the way that Alex was heading.

_Interesting... _Alex shook her head, she had not thought this herself, yet she was so tired at the moment she did not really care what it was that the voice found so interesting. _Very interesting indeed..._

_'Unless you are going to tell me what is interesting will you please shut up!?' _Alex now decided that trying to ignore the voice in her head was somewhat of an impossible task, so decided to humor herself by talking...or thinking, as it were, back at it more often.

The voice in her head stayed silent, it was clear that whatever it found interesting was something that it did not feel like sharing with Alex.

"Fine then..." Alex sighed to herself...half getting annoyed with herself for even saying it out loud.

_Haven't you heard? Ignorance is bliss... in other words why should I answer you when you are so determined to ignore me all of the time? I mean come on I have been inside your head for about a week now, and for god sakes can you just get over it? We are stuck together, end of story, deal with it._

This had to be the most Alex had ever heard the voice 'say' in one go, and even the first time it had technically ranted.

'_Stupid voice'..._

_At least call me by my proper name...please? In case you didn't know, it's Tifa._

_'I'm going mad...'_

_-_

Josh could not muster up the courage to show his parents what he had done to his hand...This presented quite an awkward problem. One it meant that he would have to somehow hide his hand from them until it had healed, and two it meant that he could not go to the hospital without his parents finding out through them.

Back home at last, and with both his parents at work, Josh went straight up to his room to examine the damage he had done more carefully.

It did not look good... One of his fingers was broken, and the rest of his knuckles were just a bloody mess. The pain coming from it was unbearable. He had no idea what to do. He supposed that the best idea would be to dress it in some way...but then again he had nothing to disinfect it with.

_Oh aren't you the little worrier... how annoying..._

"SHUT THE HELL UP" He shouted at the empty room.

There was a silence, which Josh thought was somewhat of a miracle considering the thing that he was talking to had just broken one of his fingers. Not sure whether this had made it go away for the time being, Josh walked over to the mirror...remembering what had happened that day Alex had took him shopping. After all, it couldn't hurt to check and see if it would happen again, that is of course if it did happen and he had not just imagined it all.

It appeared that lighting could strike twice in Josh's case. There, staring back at him was the terrifying face of...

"Sephiroth..." Josh felt stupid for saying the name out loud, after all, all Sephiroth was was a game character...so how he came to be hallucinating him in the mirror was beyond him.

To his great surprise...Sephiroth started to clap very slowly at him. "Well done...you have finally said my name, give yourself a pat on the back before I stab it!"

Josh didn't know whether or not to laugh at this...if the Sephiroth in his head was as terrible as the Sephiroth in Josh's favorite game...chances were he did not have much of a sense of humor, so there was no need to laugh.

"You know I'm not going to be contained in this shell for much longer...don't you?" He sounded very calm, as though he was binding his time.

Josh felt that he was mastering his fear of Sephiroth at a very fast rate. On the contrary, instead of being afraid of him, which a few minutes ago he would have said without a second thought, he was bursting with questions, though not sure whether or not it was a good idea to answer them.

He then noticed something that was very peculiar. Sephiroth's right hand had a broken finger on it... Almost as though...

"Looks like you hurt yourself in that little demonstration of yours..." Josh said, timidly.

Sephiroth glared at him, then without any words created the green aura around his hand that Josh recognised only too well as the 'cure' spell.

He looked down at his hand, and the same green light surrounded it too. His hand felt a pleasant warmth, and a sensation most peculiar, as though warm air were flowing through his veins, radiating some kind of mystical energy. The feeling was somewhat euphoric...even addictive for the short time that it lasted.

Josh then noticed something weird...in order for him to cast that spell, he would have needed materia... Sephiroth, as though reading his mind (which, Josh reminded himself, he probably did) spoke at this point.

"The materia seems to be scattered across your world too...I spotted this one when you had that nice little walk down to the lake with that girl...Alex...I just had to pick it up, no-one can survive without materia..." Sephiroth gestured to Josh's right wrist.

Josh looked down at it...he could see nothing but his sleeve...Then he felt a piercing sensation in his skin...

Pulling back his sleeve, he saw his wrist, looking red raw, with something pushing up through the surface. A small green orb was forcing its way to the surface of his skin. To his surprise, the feeling was not very painful at all, more like a wasp sting that was going on for a long time.

Josh thought he was going to be sick, which made him half wish he knew how to use the materia he saw embedded in his skin. He looked back into the mirror. Sephiroth had a look of evil delight on his face, which contrasted greatly with Josh's expression.

"Oh don't worry..." Sephiroth said, casually, as he observed josh trying to rip it out of his skin, "You won't even know it is there...I mean i had to make it surface before you noticed after all."

"Get this thing out of me!" Josh shouted in desperation. The materia then sank back into his skin, with a horrible freezing feeling. If he had not just seen it pertrude from his skin, he would not have known it was there.

He was now ghostly white... "I thought you used bangles...and armlets...and...and..."

Sephiroth scoffed. "Thats for the weak."

Josh looked confused, how could you blame anyone for not wanting to put orbs in their skin?

"They only get in the way in a fight, and you can never harness a materia's true power if it has to bypass armor before it gets to you...cut out the middle man so to speak."

"Take it out of me!" Josh didn't want to listen to another word.

"Tell you what..." Sephiroth began, and not in his mocking tone either, "...keep it in, and I shall teach you how to use it. Sounds like a better idea, no? And, if you do find the side effects of having the materia 'equipped', I shall teach you how to take it out as well..."

Now Josh was paying attention. The idea of being able to control materia at his will was very tempting, and after all, it was only cure materia, it could not do any harm.

"Do we have a deal?"

Josh could not bring himself to say yes...so instead just nodded at the mirror.

"Brilliant. Now then, lets get started shall we?" Josh could not believe that he said this already. He felt his fingers twitch with excitement. "First of all, I have seen this game that you believe to be our world... let me tell you now, there are some similarity's but there is a lot that is different that you need to know. Materia, you do not use 'MP' as it is called, it is all a matter of will power, if the mind does not want to cast a magic, then you must wait until it is rested and ready to cast.'

Josh did not think it was going to be as simple as seeing if you had enough magic points to cast a spell.

"Think of it as if your mind is the MP if that helps, you grow stronger the more you use it." Josh was intruiged, but nothing he had said so far had told him how to actually use the materia. "You need to tap into a certain area of your mind that you would not have without me. Even with me here however, that section of your mind is underdeveloped, you will need to practise..."

Josh was now very eager, even if it was just a simple spell that he was going to be attempting. "It is all a matter of concentration, not too difficult when only equipped with one materia as you can't accidentally use the wrong spell. However you must assume that you have an arsenal of materia at your command and focus on one spell. In this case cure."

He thought he understood...focus on the spell you want and it just...happened? "Once focused, its basically a flick of the wrist. When you are more used to it the flick will be unnecessary, but for now it will aid in you tapping into the core of the materia... Now give it a try..."

Josh began to practice...

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Authors Notes: As usual please leave a review letting us know what you thought. Will update you on the upcoming guild wars story once we have a title. See ya next time folks! 

R&A


	5. Beneath The Skin

Woooooo for quickness! We are aiming for one a week now D. Hopefully the story is getting better too P. Anyways enjoy chapter 5!

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**Chapter 5- Beneath the Skin**

"I think it looks cool!"

"Bit plain…couldn't you get any better designs?"

"Where did you get it done!?"

"How much did it cost? I want one!"

Unanswerable questions were all that seemed to be heading in the direction of Shaun right now. He did not know how it got there…nor did he know why it had got here. All he wanted was for everyone to shut up right now and let him think.

Maybe he was just drunk one night at a party, and some friends tricked him into getting it done. Then again, he couldn't remember going to any party's recently, and therefore discarded this thought as a very very unlikely possibility. It was as though it had just appeared there, on his arm over night. As if it had been waiting to just rise out of nowhere and for no reason.

When he first saw it, he thought he must have been hallucinating. After all he had been having very odd thoughts recently…and the stress of these thoughts might have got to his mind. After several long hours of staring at it however, it was plain that it was real, and now he was regretting showing his closest friend it, as now everyone was asking about it.

Tattoos weren't exactly uncommon however around college, it was more because of the unusual design that it attracted more attention than any tattoo normally would.

"Don't know, don't know and don't know… Anyways I've gotta go to class." He pushed passed everyone who was blocking his way, and headed off in the direction of his next lesson.

"Hey Shaun…wait up!" He did not really feel like waiting up for anyone at this moment in time. Half annoyed at himself, half scared, he just kept walking.

A few seconds later however, the person to whom the voice belonged to appeared. It was Alex, and unsurprisingly, the first thing that she said was.

"What were all of those people so interested in then?" This sounded genuine…so it did mean that Shaun could lie if he wanted. Alex had been a good friend to him over the years though…and lying to her did not seem like the right thing to do.

He pulled up his sleeve.

Alex's head tilted slightly. "It's kinda ugly…" She then continued to walk with him. They both had next lesson together.

Shaun was so grateful that she had not continued on the subject that his face broke into a very wide smile. It was nice for something normal to happen.

"You could tell me why everyone is so interested in it though…I mean what does it do…make you unlucky for the rest of your life?" She chuckled to herself at her bad joke. "And what's with the numerals? I mean come on…why not just a rose or something?"

Shaun did not feel like answering. He knew perfectly well why people were so interested in it, though it did not interest him in the slightest.

_Of course you know what this means don't you!!!??? _Tifa yelled at Alex. To be perfectly honest, she did not have a clue what this meant. She was just so tired at the moment to really care. _Oh my god you are so oblivious girl…_

-

_More difficult than you thought it would be right? _Josh was in drama at the moment. Listening to his teacher drone on and on about the same play for their upcoming exam. He knew it was not wise…but he continued to attempt to tap into the material embedded in his arm. It was only on the very rare occasion that he managed to make it work however, and if ever it did work in class, he doubted anybody would notice. He was sitting at the back of the room only in sight of about two people, and they both looked ready to fall asleep.

_You know I think you are developing some sort of addiction to this… that can be quite a nasty little side effect for first time users, but it won't last for long. I can assure you the novelty will wear off after a while. _He wasn't listening, he was too busy concentrating.

Without warning, the same euphoric feeling engulfed his right hand. He quickly shoved his hand in his pocked so that nobody saw the green aura, and if they saw the glow through the pocket he could say it was his phone.

_For god sakes try and target somewhere other than your hand! Lot of good that would be in a battle…you get a broken foot and the most you can do is heal your hand. Bravo… _

That would be something he would have to try later. Right now he wanted to perfect actually using the materia itself, not where he targets it… then the thought occurred to him on using it on other people…this thought amused him at what the looks might be on people's faces.

"Which in conclusion means that the influence of brecht on this play is quite apparent, but you should not forget to mention Arteaud, as he was also a big influence on the style on this play… Ok well we can leave it there for now. See you all tomorrow."

Nobody hesitated to get out of the room. Drama was fine when they were actually acting, which was what Josh thought Drama was all about…but learning the theory was just to tedious.

Something Josh never thought he would do…and yet he did it. He actually deliberately spoke to Sephiroth. _So where can we find more material? Would be cool to be able to do more than just cure…_

Josh did not know what the feeling was…but a sudden happiness came over him, though it did not feel like his emotion. Could this mean that Sephiroth was happy about something?

_All in good time…I will tell you if I see any…it is half luck…but you should be more patient boy…_

-

"Ok…so let me get this straight…it just appeared on your arm overnight…?" Alex asked Shaun, whilst developing some photographs.

"Yes." Shaun replied bluntly.

"And you have absolutely no idea how it got there?" Alex seemed to be disbelieving of this. Her theory was that Shaun was just turning into some kind of rebel and wanted to cover it up with a pretty rubbish fake story.

"Nope…and if you are going to keep questioning me in that tone then…" He stopped…he did not much want to get on the wrong side of Alex…from what he had heard she could get very, very nasty.

Alex seemed to be able to sense what Shaun was thinking. _Never known him to be like that before…_ Tifa's voice echoed in her head. Again Alex didn't know, nor did she care what was meant by this, but thought it would be polite to point out… _"You don't know him."_

Tifa did not answer, something that Alex was thankful for, as she needed to concentrate on what she was doing since there was only a few minutes left of the lesson.

"Not like you to be all silent Tifa…" Alex spun round and looked at who had said this. To her utter shock and surprise, it had come from Shaun.

Shaun, on the other hand, had an extremely blank look on his face. "…what did I just say…?" He laughed. "God I hate it when that happens…mild touch of amnesia there…" He laughed again at his own forgetfulness.

Alex had just opened her mouth to tell him exactly what it was he had said…but then thought better of it. There was no-one else in the darkroom, but all the same maybe she had just been hearing things.

_Great…now I am hearing even more voices…life can't get much better than this…_

Lesson was over. Alex knew that Josh would have already gone home by now, so she decided to walk with Shaun. Now that she had 'heard' him say this, she had become very intrigued by him. Perhaps she was just being stupid though.

They walked. Neither of them were saying anything to the other. Alex did not know what to say, she was more analysing him to try and confirm the suspicion that had arisen inside her. However…her suspicions could not be right. It was all coincidence after all. The voice inside of her head, everything was complete and utter nonsense, something that her mind had probably decided to make up to entertain her through the monotonous work that was, college.

"I want to go and get some food I think..." Alex said out loud, passing the news agents on the corner of the street, "…might help the headache I got from the damn darkroom."

Shaun simply nodded at her and walked into the shop with her. She bought a chocolate bar and a packet of chewing gum. It was when she walked outside of the shop that something happened so fast she did not really see what happened.

She was putting her change away in her wallet, when a person wearing a hood snatched it and ran off as fast as they could.

"Son of a bitch!" Shaun yelled, and then ran after him. Alex did not know what to do except watch.

She knew Shaun rather well…and never had he been an athlete. Somehow however, he had managed to run after the thief with surprising speed and tackle him to the ground with a sickening crunch.

Shaun snatched back the wallet…but the thief managed to struggle free and run for it. To Alex's horror, the crunch seemed to come from Shaun's wrist, which had hit the pavement when he tackled the hooded man.

"Fu…"

"Don't worry about it." Shaun said, cutting her off. He held out the wallet for her to take. "I don't think it is broken…just…dislocated…"

Alex looked at it in shock. She did not know why he had done that for her. They weren't exactly great mates. Sure they had known each other for years, but in that time they had not got close enough to merit such an act of kindness.

Then Shaun did something that was unexpected and made Alex feel sick. With his free hand, he seized hold of the dislocated wrist and clicked it back into place. It looked like one of the most painful things in the world to do, yet Shaun's expression was blank. It was as though his mind and his body were completely disconnected, so he did not feel any pain at all.

Alex could not take it, she ran to the nearest clump of bushes and heaved. What she had just witnessed just seemed so disgusting to see right before your very eyes. When finally she felt better she returned to where Shaun was standing and looked at him.

"Need all four limbs working I guess Red…" Alex looked shocked. She did not mean to say this, yet the words seemed to have just involuntary come out of her mouth.

"Bad enough having to walk on two legs…" Shaun had the same blank expression on his face, "…what the hell…"

Alex turned and started walking off in the direction of her house, not sure if staying in close proximity with Shaun was a very good idea at this moment in time. Shaun however caught up with her.

"Wait up!"

"I need to get some sleep…sorry Shaun…" She walked off very briskly in a manner that quite clearly said 'leave me alone'.

-

_Of all the hosts I could have got and I had to get one that can't ever master a simple spell!! _Josh was getting better, but the constant stream of moaning was enough to drive him insane.

He tried and tried to make the spell more natural to cast…but it was still rare when it actually worked.

_Imagine you trying to help someone dying… 'Oh help I have ten seconds to live'… 'Hang on…just give me a couple of hours…'_

"Will you just shut up!" He shouted. Josh did not know what he expected though, Sephiroth wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world, so he could hardly expect to get any praise from him…then again for all the good he had done there was nothing to be praised for.

Josh was at home now, in his room…and yet again, he was the only person in the house. This was one of the problems with his timetable in his opinion, even though he had a lot of time off, it did mean he was on his own an awful lot. However he could hardly say he was alone now, with Sephiroth always with him.

He looked over at the mirror. Sure enough the horrible pale eyes were staring right back at him, a look of disgust on his face.

"You know it is not going to be much longer before I can break free of this…my power over you…" Sephiroth began.

"Is growing stronger and stronger with each passing day…" Josh finished…unable to stop himself from saying these words, "…even now I am able to control…"

"…your speech." Sephiroth finished.

"Why are you saying all of this again?" Josh was not sure why he would repeat himself.

"Well…maybe the force that put me into this situation is listening…and the idea of me killing my host might be enough for them to reverse it." Sephiroth seemed to be trying to convince himself of this more than anything.

"And you really believe that do you? You are stuck with me, so deal with it, and besides, you know as well as I do that if you kill me, you will kill yourself as well…" There was a quiver in Josh's voice, evidently he was still scared of Sephiroth.

Josh's hand then involuntary flung up and grasped his throat. "But then again…maybe death will be the escape back into my world…maybe that is the connection between your world and my world…" Sephiroth's voice sounded constricted, as though he too had a hand around his throat, "…and all I need to do is squeeze…"

"Are you willing to take that chance…?" Josh's hand tightened on his throat…he could not breath at all…all he could see was Sephiroth's face in the mirror…looking if possible…scared.

His hand released its grip. Josh was gasping for breath, unable to believe what had just happened.

"Keeping a cool head in a situation like that…you might not be as useless as I thought after all…it is just going to take me a lot of patience…" Sephiroth looked as though patience was the last thing that he wanted to have.

Josh could feel Sephiroth's emotions after all. When he looked in the mirror at him, he could see a man trying to put on a calm façade, but inside he knew that he was screaming for release.

This connection was something that seemed to be forging as Sephiroth gained more 'Power' over him. This did make Josh wonder if it was possible for him to have power over Sephiroth…but he doubted it, as he was not in the same league.

"God I need to get out of here…and I swear when I find out what. or who, did this to me…I will destroy them…"

-

"Ah someone I know! Honestly I could sing!" Seeing Tifa's form in the television as soon as Alex got home, was not what she considered to be a great thing to happen on top of everything else.

This did have its comic value however, seeing Tifa look so out of place in the middle of Deal or no Deal, where all the contestants just ignored her there, as they could not see her.

Alex did not feel like answering her. After all, Tifa had taken control of her voice, and if she had been wrong in guessing who Shaun was, would have made her look like an insane person…

"You know what…it is tonight I think…" Alex looked at her as the £250,000 was discovered in box twelve, "…everything will change after tonight…well…more than things have changed in the last few weeks anyway."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, forgetting the vow of silence that she was trying to take against her.

"Oh, don't worry." Tifa seemed to enjoy knowing something that Alex didn't.

_Maybe she is going to kill…_

"I am not going to kill you! And don't forget I am inside your head…you seem to forget that all the time…I can 'read your mind' you know?"

Alex went up to her room…forgetting that she would not be able to just leave Tifa in the T.V, which at this moment in time would have been something she would very much like to have done.

_Maybe Red will have an idea of how to get back…he does come out with some smart ideas…at times…when he feels like it…occasionally…well…more than Barret…which isn't saying much…but still…_

Alex just wanted to get to sleep, though it was a very uneasy sleep that she drifted off into after she had heard all of this. What was it that Tifa was going to attempt tonight, was it going to be dangerous, would Alex even be conscious of what she was doing, or would she forget, just like Shaun did when his speech was taken over? These definitely were not comforting thoughts, as her eyes grew very heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.

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Authors Notes: Con crit please if you have any, and please review to let us know what you think!

R&A


	6. Free for Now

Sorry for taking so long, college got in the way. We are going to take a break on this fanfic as we are starting a new guild wars one, which is currently going very well in the writing. It is called 'Retribution of Tyria', even if you have never played guild wars we suggest you give it a look D. Enjoy the chapter...

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**Chapter 6- Free for Now**

It was midnight, and hardly anybody was around on the streets at this time, indeed the only people that were around now were trouble making teenagers, which would not be of any problem whatsoever.

The dark figure that emerged from the nearest household walked briskly and confidently down the lamp-lit street, not really sure where it was that they were going, yet sure that there aim would become clear in a few moments time. They continued to walk towards the center of town, which was not too far from the house of which they had just left. Fortunately for the figure, there was nobody at all around, and there was therefore no need to defend themselves from a pointless mugger.

What did scare Tifa on this dark night however, was something far more sinister that could very well be lurking in the darkness...if she ever encountered him, even when she had managed to get back to her own form, it would surely be the end of her.

She paused for a moment, contemplating the thought that he might actually have stayed and it was only her and her friends that got sent on to this strange world. She thought this an extremely hopeful thought, as after all, being stuck in this place was bad enough. Surely it would have been better for him to have come as well, his powers diminished in this strange place.

The weeks that she had spent here inside her host however had taught Tifa a lot about this world. As far as technology went they seemed lacking behind, and the lack of materia made her amazed that they could live, after all a world without materia would just be such a difficult one to live in, or so she thought.

Tifa continued to walk, as if a sudden impulse had told her the direction of her unknown goal. If only she knew where this 'Shaun' person lived, and then she would have been able to easily walk to his house. She wracked her mind, but Alex's thoughts and memories seemed to be dormant at the moment. This was a good thing in her opinion though, as if she was awake, Tifa would surely not hear the end of her moaning.

There was a rustling of leaves somewhere nearby. Tifa swirled around, half expecting this, although ready for a fight if it was not what she wanted to appear. It was only a stray cat however, its eyes wide, looking straight into Tifa's. She walked over to it, she was very fond of cats after all. She sat down on a bench next to the bush that the cat was in.

The cat slowly walked over, sensing the kindness of the apparent stranger it was confronted with. Tifa stretched out a hand and gently tickled the cats chin.

Then, out of nowhere, came an ear splitting roar! The cat jumped into Tifa's lap in fright, where as Tifa herself was sitting there shocked, heart racing half from the fright, the other from excitement.

Prowling out from between the branches of the same bush that the cat was in, was none other than Red XIII. Tifa smiled very widely as the red beast walked slowly over to her, eyes fixed on the cat that was in her lap.

"That's the same one that I see round that 'College' or whatever they call it...you don't know just how difficult it has been not to make my host spontaneously chase after it..." The cat did not move, it seemed to feel safe under Tifa's protection.

"How long have you been here?" She asked, it was the first question that came to her mind.

"Erm..." Red started, "...3 minutes? Thought I would wait for the cat to..."

"Not here as in right here you idiot!" Tifa started, jokingly, "I meant, how long have you been in the world? I thought it might be different...or maybe we got here at the same time."

"About 2 months..." Red now proceeded to jump onto the bench next to Tifa, surprising the cat still did not move, "...worst two months of my life I can tell you."

"You're only 16..."

"That is not the point." Red cut her off, he did not want to remind her that he was only 16 in human years, and that he was a lot older and wiser in his species, "...point is I think that now we are both together we should be able to work out a way to get back." Tifa winced. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing as such... Alex is just having a very bad dream..." She paused, wondering if Alex might wake up if the dream was bad enough.

"Dreamdropping?"

"It's not as though I can help it." Tifa brushed his comment aside. She was surprised at both herself and Red at how calm their reuniting had been, though she felt it was something that was so obvious, something that was just so inevitable that it did not need a fuss made over it.

"Any word on the others?" Red hopped off of the seat at this point, clearly sitting so close to a feline was not doing his nerves any favors when it was clear that he just wanted to eat it.

"Nothing." Tifa replied bluntly, but then thought of something. "Although, I did manage to find this...something that must have slipped through to this world the same time as we did."

Tifa then produced from her pocked a bright purple orb. "Where did you get that!?"

"At the college..." Tifa replied, "...it was in their props cupboard in the drama department...at first I thought it might have only been a prop...but no, it actually is a proper piece of working materia!"

Red looked at it, trying to figure out what it was, which he must have, as the next thing he said was. "Kind of a useless materia to have in a place like this is'nt it?"

"Better than nothing, and who knows, if we have this then it must mean that there are other pieces of materia around as well, surely?" She was half trying to convince herself this, but thought that her statement had some kind of logic in it.

Red walked up to Tifa so as to examine the purple materia closer, trying to ignore the soft purring of the cat which had now moved to the place where he had previously sat. "We can only hope... I mean if it is only junk materia like this that came through then we are no better off with or without it."

Tifa looked fondly at the materia, then realised with a horrible feeling in her gut the only way in which they would be able to wear it for now. "The old fashioned way..." She muttered to herself, so quietly that Red did not hear her.

"What?" He said, growling slightly as the cat moved closer to him, as if to see how close it could get without Red snapping.

Tifa did not answer, she had never actually thought about how she was going to wear the materia when she first found it, now however it was all too clear. She held out her right arm, trying to decide which side she was going to place the materia.

"What are you..." Red began, but his question was answered before he could finish saying it. Tifa had started to push the materia with what seemed to be great difficulty into the underside of her arm. Purple fumes where rising from where the orb was penetrating the skin, and although Tifa was not showing any signs of pain, Red was sure that if he wasn't there, she would be screaming.

The last of the orb finally vanished beneath her skin, and the part of her arm at which it had been placed showed no signs that anything at all was there. Tifa looked over at Red, "Well...remind me not to make a habit of that once we get out of this place."

Red did not want to point out that there was every possibility that they would not get back, but felt that it would be a tiny bit mean to point this out. "So do you feel any different?" He was a little bit concerned that the materia would not have this effect due to the savage way in which it was being worn.

"More alert...more aware of my surroundings...that is about it." To be fair thought, this was all that this particular piece of materia was meant to do, which would probably come in useful somehow...maybe...

"There must be some better way of locating these things...or even just a logical place to find them..." Red was trying to shed a positive light on things, as if they had a materia like knights of the round.

"Well...I don't see any logical reasoning for this to be in a props cupboard, and I just found it by chance." She looked down at her arm as if looking straight at the materia, "...but I have a feeling now that we have got one of them, finding the rest should be a piece of cake."

"Let's hope so..." Red muttered...then he lunged straight at the cat which was now only mere inches away from him. Amazingly however, Tifa managed to stop him not long after he had moved. "I was just testing...just testing..." His eyes however, were still looking right at the cat, who's eyes were wide, staring straight back at him.

"Well thank you for that assessment but I'm sure we would have found out sooner or later." Tifa said, bluntly. She got up and started to pace, noticing that the side effect of the materia made her feel slightly weaker, yet more nimble and speedy.

They heard footsteps approching. Tifa turned her head to look in the direction of the noise, Red however slipped back into the bushes out of sight, even though it was dark, the sight of a flaming red beast would surely draw a little bit of attention.

A dark figure was now walking slowly towards Tifa, who was standing at the edge of a set of stairs, leaning on a banister near it. She could tell, even without the effect of the materia she was wearing, that this person did not wish her well at all.

Then, without any warning from the materia that she was wearing, Tifa felt cold steel being pressed against her neck. She did not dare move her head, but instead moved her eyes so that she was looking right into the face of this man.

She could tell that this was something more sinister than someone threatening her for all the money she had on her...

The man then muttered something into her ear, and Tifa could not believe what it was that she was hearing. She was trying desperatly to think of a way out of this, but any second now the man was going to cut her throat.

In a whirl of flaming red colour, Tifa saw the mans arm thrown away from her, and the knife that he had been holding fall to the floor. Tifa wasted no time in seizing the knife and stepping back away from the man. Red had clamped his jaws around the mans arm, the man himself had fallen to the floor with the pain.

"Red, let him go!" Tifa shouted.

To her surprise Red did not object to this. He let go and moved swiftly over to join Tifa, who was standing a few feet away from the man, knife pointing straight at him. "Who are you?" She asked, quite simply, for she did not recognise his face, which had now been thrown into the light from the nearest street lamp. He did not answer, so Tifa decided to ask something else, "What do you want?"

The man merely smiled, then said in a very sinister tone. "I'm just doing my job..."

He then reached for something in his inside jacket. Tifa, seeing what was coming, threw the knife as hard as she could at his hand, which had only just emerged from his jacket, holding a gun. Before he had chance to act, the gun had dropped out of his hand, and Tifa had moved over and kicked it away.

"What should we do with him?" Red asked, teeth bared. "If only we had fire magic we could give him his own crematorium right here..."

"Well..." Tifa said, looking down at him, "...if we had something to manipulate his memory we could send him back with tales that he has killed us...but for now..." She kicked him hard in the side of the face, "...concussion will have to do. If we kill him they will only come back with more...he will only send more..."

Red looked up at her questioningly, he had not heard what the man had muttered to her. "He? Who is 'he'?"

Tifa looked down at Red, and said, very seriously. "The president..."

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Authors Notes: Reviews please please please please please, we want to know if this new take on FF7 is going good in your opinion! P.

R&A (And the return of M for the guild wars fanfic 0)


	7. The Parasites Instinct

We are so so so so so sorry for the massive delay that we have had with this story. We are pleased to announce however that the whole story has been thoroughly planned (and any author will know that planning is half the battle) and the rest of the story will uploaded frequently. Enjoy chapter seven!

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Chapter 7- The Parasites Instinct**

Lessons at College were becoming more and more of a strain for both Alex and Josh. It was true, that much of this could have been avoided if they didn't have to contend with the voices that were going through their heads.

Alex was feeling the strain of this the worst however. She did not have any knowledge that Tifa had temporarily taken complete control, nor did she know that her physical form had actually changed to mimic Tifa's precisely. She did have some suspicions however, as several bruises that Alex had not had before had randomly appeared.

Of course, Alex had questioned Tifa about this, yet she denied any involvement with it. Thinking that she was lying, Alex tried to read Tifa's thoughts, but for some reason this was extremely difficult, as though they were being hidden away from her. At times, she thought she caught glimpses of a dark night, and a flash of scarlet, but at others Alex thought that this was all imagined.

"_So for the last time, can you just stop asking me about it!?_" Tifa shouted in her head, making it even more difficult for Alex to take in anything that her teacher was saying to the class.

"So how many pictures are to be used in your panoramic photograph, Alex?" Adrian asked. Her teacher had caught her off guard.

"Erm…err…six?" Alex replied. She looked around at the rest of the class who were all staring at her.

"Near enough." Adrian said. Clearly he could not be bothered to point out that she was not listening properly. "Yet five will do fine Ms West." Alex blushed as she always did when her surname was used. "Well if you could all borrow a camera from resources and get this handed in to me by next Monday. That will be all for this lesson."

Everybody packed away their things, Alex still blushing a delicate shade of red, and left the classroom. She had agreed earlier with Josh that they would spend their free period together in the Café. Walking quickly towards it, she stumbled upon none other than Shaun, who was looking greatly distressed.

"Hiya, what's up?" Alex asked as she approached him.

Shaun did not answer at once. Upon closer inspection, Alex saw that he looked very tired. "I just feel Ill…" He replied. He did look rather pale.

"I know the feeling…" Alex said, not looking directly at him, "…anyway…I said I'd meet Josh. See ya around mate." She gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and turned to leave. As she did so, Alex found that she too did not feel so good. Her skin felt like it was crawling back upon itself.

When at last she reached the Café, she found Josh sitting at a table alone. A cup of hot chocolate in one hand, and a piece of what was undoubtedly homework on the table in front of him. He looked very happy about something.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Alex sat down on a chair opposite Josh and peered over at his homework which was headed 'Improvisation Techniques'. "Fascinating…"

"What?" Josh looked up at her, and then back down at his heading. "Oh…yeah." He picked up his mug of hot chocolate and took a sip, then winced from the heat. Alex laughed.

"In for next lesson no doubt?" Alex commented. This was always the case with Josh, which made his next statement surprise her somewhat.

"No." He replied simply. "We were only just set it actually, thought I would get a head start."

Alex was very glad that she had not gone to get a drink yet, because if she had she would more than likely have spat it out on hearing this. "Did you get hit over the head or something?"

Josh ignored her and started to write his next paragraph. Maybe it was Alex's imagination, but she thought that his writing had changed. It looked neater than normal anyway.

Alex said that she was going to go and get a drink and got up from the table. Sure enough, about a minute later she returned with a steaming mug of cappuccino, her favourite hot drink. "Miss me?" She teased as she sat back down. To her great shock Josh had written considerably more in the short amount of time she had been gone.

It was just as Alex took a sip of her drink that Tifa spoke to her. To her great surprise, she sounded worried. "_You need to get to somewhere private right now!" _Alex didn't move. "_ARE YOU DEAF!? MOVE!!_"

The crawling sensation in Alex's skin then returned in full force. Not wasting anymore time, she got up and ran as fast as she could in the direction of the girls toilets. She got there just in time and ran straight into one of the cubicles, slammed the door and locked it.

The sensation which followed this was extremely strange. Her skin, instead of feeling like a crawling sensation, felt like it was folding back on itself. Her head then felt fuzzy, and her legs went completely numb as she fell to the floor of the cubicle.

Alex looked around, or at least, she tried to move her head to look around, however she could not move a single muscle. Her head then suddenly looked down at her hands, without Alex meaning it to. She tried to move a finger, but couldn't, what was going on? All of a sudden, as though of their own accord, her arms pushed her to her feet.

"_What the…_" Alex said, only her mouth did not move, the sound just echoed around in her head. Then out of no-where, Tifa's voice sounded.

"_We've changed, this is the second time it has happened. I didn't want to tell you the first time because I thought it might alarm you, I realise now what a mistake that was…"_ Alex would very much have liked to have said that Tifa could have warned her, but didn't, she was too taken aback by Tifa suddenly going to open the cubicle door.

"_Are you mad!?_" Alex shouted, but Tifa did not seem to listen to her. She unbolted the cubicle door and went out.

What happened next was extremely strange. As Tifa looked into the mirror, Alex could suddenly move again. She ran towards the mirror where Tifa was staring at her and started shout loudly, not caring who heard her.

"Change us back right now!" Tifa was deep in thought, not really paying much attention to Alex at all.

"I can't…" Tifa replied, looking sorrowfully at the mirror, "…I have no control over it, we will just have to wait and see…well…just wait."

Alex paced around, it felt very strange to be talking from in a mirror. "Well you can't go outside… don't you think people will find it a bit strange if a game character suddenly appeared in College?"

To Alex's great surprise and annoyance, Tifa simply smiled. "Please…Look at me! I'm still dressed like you, I could easily pass for just another student."

Without the ability to do anything at all to stop her, Tifa walked out the door or the toilet. Alex's vision returned to Tifa's eyes. Fortunately however, nobody seemed to pay Tifa the slightest bit of attention, she walked around the college for what seemed to be hours, evidently looking for something. Without even bothering to ask, Alex looking inside her mind.

"_You're telling me that there is another person like me here?_" Alex asked. Tifa then turned right around and headed in towards the exit of the College.

"No." She muttered aloud as there was nobody nearby. "They have headed towards town centre, they must have changed form too…"

Tifa continued to walk briskly along the narrow path towards town, Alex continuously asking questions along the way, most of which she got no answer to. Even through reading her mind, Alex did not get any more information that what she already knew.

Eventually they stopped walking. They were now stood by a bench which was covered in water from a recent downpour of rain. Tifa sat down and waited. "_Why here?_" Alex asked.

Again there was no-one around, so Tifa talked aloud. "This is where I came the other night when we first changed, the other one is heading here…"

Alex now felt nervous yet excited at the same time. Around ten minutes passed, and then from the end of the street trotted a ginger dog. Tifa looked at it for a few moments, then continued to look around expectantly. To both her and Alex's great surprise however, the dog came up to her and dropped a newspaper in her lap, then looked up at her, wagging it's tail.

Tifa considered the dog for a moment, then picked up the newspaper. Before she had chance to read anything however, a voice sounded from what seemed to be the dog. "The phrase is 'thank-you' I believe."

She jumped and looked back down at the dog, which was now giving her an unmistakable stern look. "I thought your host was human?" Tifa asked.

"It is." The dog replied, and then before Tifa's very eyes, the dog's fur changed smoothly from ginger to dark red, and standing in front of her was none other that Red XIII. "But I can disguise myself too, I discovered that about an hour ago." He smiled. "You ought to read that, I think you will find that very interesting…" He nudged the paper with his nose.

Tifa picked up the slightly wet newspaper and read the headline at the top of the front page. **Break In at the Tower of London**. Intrigued, she read the article underneath.

'In the early hours of the morning Police released shocking information of a break in at the famous 'Tower of London', which is the current safeguard of the prestigious crown jewels. Police assured everyone that nothing was taken, however the thief was not apprehended. Plans to move the Jewels to a more secure location have been discussed, but so far no suitable location has been found. Extra security has been placed at the Tower to guard the Jewels, and Police urge anyone with any information to come forward at once. (Full story Pages 3-5)'.

Tifa read the last few words, then folded up the paper and looked at Red. "Why should I be interested in this?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

"I've just got a feeling…" Red replied, looking up at her with narrowed eyes, "…the thief wasn't caught, and the security around those 'Jewels' is supposed to be impenetrable. What if…" He looked away from her, "…what if it's one of the others?"

She couldn't help but let out a laugh. "That's a bit of a stab in the dark wouldn't you say?"

Red looked back up at her. "I don't think so…I can't explain why, but I just know that it is one of us!" He leapt onto the bench and with difficulty flipped the paper open to page 3. A lot of the page was dedicated to a double spread of a very blurred photo which must have been taken from a security camera. It showed a figure fleeing from a roof. Though it was difficult to tell, Tifa thought it was a woman.

Tifa then had a very strange feeling. It was as though something was telling her where she must go. It seemed so obvious now. Of course this was one of them! Why had she ever doubted Red in the first place?

"We have to go to London!" Tifa said, and so sure of what they needed to do, she got to her feet and headed towards town centre where there was a train station, Red ran to catch up with her, changing back into the ginger dog.

"_I've got lessons! You can't just go to London!!_" Tifa stopped in her tracks.

"Leave it to the weekend…" Tifa said to Red, turning on the spot to look at him. She suddenly realised how odd it would look if someone to see her talking with a ginger dog, "…we have to show some respect to our host's lives."

Red agreed, and together they headed back towards the College.

-

The weekend came along quicker then Alex would have liked it to. It was Friday now, and Alex was sitting at her desk, working on a very difficult I.C.T assignment, though not being able to concentrate on it at all.

"So who is Red XIII?" She asked, there was no-one else in the house to hear her talking to herself.

"_He comes from Cosmo Canyon, I met him a few months ago on our way to..."_

"No no!" Alex interrupted, "I mean who is his 'host'."

Tifa did not answer. Alex did not press the matter, and decided to simply read Tifa's mind. She was blocking off that particular piece of information. Trying to redirect her attention to the assignment, Alex ignored Tifa's next words.

"_We should get going, Red is going to meet us at Waterloo station at five o clock._" It was fortunate that Alex had Friday afternoons off. She did not move. "_I don't want this to sound like I am threatening you…but move before I make you, please?_" She continued to sit still, staring at her assignment.

Without any warning, Alex got to her feet. "Stop that!" She shouted, but Tifa continued to force her to walk towards the door. "At least let me get my bag!" She stopped forcing her to walk.

Alex moved over to her bed where her shoulder bag was, picked it up, and slung it over her right shoulder. Not wanting to be forced to walk anywhere, she started to walk towards the door.

The journey to London was rather uneventful. Tifa hardly spoke to her all the way there, even when Alex complained constantly about the price of the ticket. Several hours later, Alex was getting off the train at London Waterloo. The first thing she saw and it did not lift her spirits, was the ginger dog. She walked over to it and stroked it a few times, wondering how it managed to get onto the platform.

"_Ask him if he has any leads?_" Tifa said to Alex. She did so in an undertone, and without warning, the dog began to trot joyfully along, Alex following him at a brisk pace.

London was very different to how Alex imagined it to be. She had never been there before, and had never thought it would be so crowded. People were walking in all directions, many with phones held to their ears, many with briefcases, and many with rucksacks who looked like tourists.

Alex tried very hard to keep the dog in sight through the crowed. It was lucky that it was such a bright and vibrant colour. After a long while, they came to an alleyway which they could speak freely in.

"It's difficult to sense her here…" Red said to her as she knelt down, "…but I do have a general idea of which direction to go in. As far as I can tell, the person we are looking for is about a mile away from where we are now. I'll know who it is when I see her, so will Tifa…"

"Red…" Alex asked, without any indication of what to say from Tifa, "…Can I ask…who is your host?"

Red looked away from her. "I cannot say, even he does not know that he is a host yet. Chances are you will work it out without being told."

"How can he not know!?" Alex asked in shock. "Can't he see what you are doing now?"

The dog shook its head. "He is dormant at the moment, he won't remember any of this. Anyway, shall we get moving?"

Alex nodded, then started to feel that familiar crawling sensation in her skin again, yet she did not think the change was coming just yet. The dog turned and left the alleyway, and she followed.

They walked for around fifteen minutes. On the way there, a hooded youth had tried to steal Alex's shoulder bag, but with reflex's even Alex did not know she possessed, she managed to grab the mans hand at the last second to prevent him taking it. He had run away however, obviously not keen for a fight.

The two of them stopped outside a restaurant called 'Inshoku' which appeared to serve sushi. Red gave her a look which quite clearly said 'She's in there'. Alex approached the door, opened it, and they both walked in.

"No pets allowed." A man who was standing at the door said. "You will have to leave it outside, sorry." The man then stared at the dog as it turned round and walked out by itself. "Aren't you going to attach a lead or something to it?"

"He is very well trained, I can assure you." Alex replied, looking at the ginger dog that had now lain down on the pavement.

The restaurant was rather small. The main attraction of it was a small carousel going round what appeared to be a bar, where all of the diners sat eating their sushi. It was obviously an all you can eat.

"…_There!_" Tifa exclaimed, and Alex's head snapped in the direction of a woman sitting at the bar. "_…well what are you waiting for? Go and sit next to her!_"

Alex did as she was told, deciding it was best not to be forced to walk somewhere out in public. She slowly walked over to a vacant stool next to the woman, and sat down next to her. A waiter came over with a menu showing what all the different kind of Sushi's were. Alex thanked the man, ordered a glass of coke, and looked forward at the carousel, which had many different kinds of dishes going round it.

The waiter returned to her several short minutes later with her drink. Alex took a sip from it and looked sideways at the woman sitting next to her. She was few inches taller than Alex, though it was difficult to tell whilst sitting down. Her hair was shoulder length and a deep shade of brown. Alex studied her face, she was wearing a happy expression, and her eyes were a pale blue. Clothes wise, she was wearing what looked like a very expensive black designer coat, a stylish pair of combats and high heeled boots.

"_Are you not going to say anything to her?_" Tifa prompted. Alex hesitated, not sure how to initiate conversation with a complete stranger.

"H-Hello…" Alex stuttered, so quietly it was a miracle that the woman heard her. She looked up at her however and gave her a quizzical look.

"Can I help you?" The woman replied, a slight grin crossing her face. Her voice was cheerful with a slight accent. She felt extremely awkward.

"Was…was just wondering if you could recommend any of these…" She gestured at the Sushi going round the carousel, "…I've never been to a Sushi bar before."

The woman's smile widened, yet it was friendly, not intimidating. "Well, if this is your first time, then this one…" She pulled a plate with a green coloured something on it, "…would be a good one to start with, just to see if you can handle anything with a more acquired taste. Then you might want to move onto this one…" She pulled a plate with a yellow thing on it which Alex eyed suspiciously, "…but I wouldn't try it if you don't really like the first."

She watched in amusement as Alex tried the dishes that she handed her one after the other. "_These are all disgusting…" _Tifa said in her head, making Alex grin.

"Like them?" The woman asked.

"They're good actually." Alex replied truthfully, which made Tifa snort. "Alex…" She said holding out her hand.

"Savina." The woman said grasping her hand with a surprisingly firm grip.

"So Savina…" Alex said, yet not meaning to. Tifa had taken control of her voice. "…I hear you made quite a splash at the Tower of London…"

Savina looked very taken aback. "Excuse me?" She replied, eyebrows raised. "Are you implying…"

"Oh spare it…" Alex said, again, Tifa controlling her voice, "…I know it was you, no point denying it."

"Well then…" Savina started, "…where is your backup then? You are obviously here to arrest me…"

Without waiting for an answer, she threw a punch straight at Alex's face. Again with unnatural reflex's, Alex grabbed her wrist. One of the waiters was hurrying over to them. "Take it outside or I'm calling the…" He did not say anymore, Savina had kicked the stool she was sat on a second previous straight at him, knocking him out.

There was panic in the restaurant. People were getting up and running for the exit. In all the confusion, Savina tried to hit Alex again, with no success. Without any control whatsoever, Tifa was making her fight back. Punch after punch was thrown at her, yet Savina seemed to be just as skilled a fighter as Alex and Tifa were.

Savina managed to land a kick straight to Alex's chest which knocked her to the floor. She ran to the door, but out of nowhere came the ginger dog. It pounced at her, knocking her down onto her back. "You're not going anywhere…" Red said to her. Savina's eyes widened in shock, but almost immediately they returned to normal.

"Could that be Red??" She asked in a voice which sounded completely different from the one she had used to talk to Alex earlier. The dog got off her and allowed her to get to her feet.

Savina then looked over at Alex, but instead of Alex standing before her, she saw the all too familiar figure of Tifa Lockhart. "And who are you?" She asked. Savina smiled.

There was the distant sound of sirens. "Not here." She replied, and without warning she ran towards the back door, followed closely by Tifa and Red.

Tifa was not sure how they had managed to avoid capture, but several minutes later she found herself, Red XIII and the mysterious Savina in what appeared to be a run down apartment.

"They won't find us here." Savina said in an assuring tone, "didn't find me after I tried to steal those Jewels anyway!" She smiled.

"So who are you?" Red asked, changing swiftly back into his normal crimson furred self.

"Oh come on!" Savina said in a childish voice. "Don't tell me you've forgotten your friendly neighbourhood Yuffie!"

* * *

Authors Notes: Hope you had as much fun reading this as we did writing it. Please leave a review with your thoughts on this chapter, and the next chapter shall be uploaded soon =D.

R&A

* * *


	8. The Royal Ruby

So so so so so sorry for not uploading this very quickly, hopefully you will have as much fun reading this as we had writing it, enjoy!

* * *

-_Chapter 8 - The Royal Ruby_-

The silence that followed this pronouncement was so complete you would have been able to hear your own heartbeat. The silence went on for about ten seconds, then without warning, Tifa let out a howl of uncontrollable laughter.

"You are kidding!" She managed to choke out through the wild cried of euphoria. Red however did not look so impressed.

"Prove it." Red barked, eyeing the woman in front of them both.

Savina obliged without question. Standing before them a few seconds later, grinning all over her childish face, was none other than Yuffie Kisaragi. "Hiya!"

Reds mood seemed to change as quickly as a desert melts ice. Tifa at that moment managed to calm herself down from the fit of the giggles which she was in, and the three of them looked at each other for a long moment. It was plain, that none of them had ever expected to see one another again.

"So what happened to you after the fight?" Red asked quickly.

Yuffie looked at both of them, pondering her answer. "I'm not too sure really. I can't remember too much of it, the whole fight seems like a dream that I can barely hold onto, the most I can remember clearly is that we were losing...badly..." She paced around the room, looking at several expensive looking antiques as she passed a large desk. "Then it felt cold, I thought I was dying! There was a huge whirl of colors and then I was here." She gestured around the derelict apartment. "What about you two?"

"Much the same story." Tifa replied at once. "It felt like my soul was being ripped out through my chest, then cold..." She lost herself in thoughts. "We ended up a long way from here though, at least a hundred miles away give or take."

"It was a miracle that we ended up in the same place." Red announced. "I can't imagine what it must have been like for you out here on your own Yuffie."

"Not too bad." She replied, a smile crossing the mischievous face of hers. "It was just lucky that my host and I have the same interest in profession."

"Oh you mean she is a low life materia stealing thief as well then?" Red snidely commented. This did not seem to go down well with Yuffie, so he added quickly, "just kidding."

Yuffie considered him for a moment. "Now that you mention materia," She began, eyeing the two of them with that same glint in her eye whenever someone mentioned the mystical substance in front of her, "either of you two come across any yet?"

Tifa pondered her answer for a moment. Considering Yuffie's reputation she wasn't sure that she wanted to share the one and only piece of materia she had acquired with her. Then again however, the materia was so useless there wasn't much to lose. "One piece." She finally said, and predictably Yuffie's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Don't get too excited, 'Pre-Emptive'." This didn't seem to dampen her spirits.

"Not bad, could be useful for what..." She stopped herself mid sentence, her falter did not go unnoticed however, Red glowered at her, "...for whatever this life might throw at us in the future!" She giggled nervously. "I have also found one."

"Which one!?" Tifa and Red almost shouted at the same time. Yuffie seemed glad that she had distracted them.

She held out her right arm, tapped it once near her wrist on the underside and before their very eyes a yellow orb emerged, reddening the skin around it. Yuffie tipped her arm up the other way and took the materia out. After it was removed she flexed her fingers as if trying to get rid of pins and needles.

"Wouldn't believe how useful this has been to us, well...me...well, me and Savina, you know what I mean." She tossed the orb across to Tifa who caught it instinctively.

Tifa held the materia close to her face, rather like examining a jewel for flaws. A few seconds later she looked up at Yuffie, a slight grin crossing her face. "Manipulate, how rather fortunate for you to come across this!" She threw the orb back. "Where did you get it?"

"Well," Yuffie began, "to cut a long story short, me and Savina thought it was about time we stole something a little bit more valuable, what with our amazing co-ordination we have developed. So we went to this auction, bloody dull thing it was, but then I spotted something. It was a life size statue of a Raven, ornately carved and with this," She held up the yellow orb, "In its eye, the auctioneer thought it was a Topaz, the fool."

They both nodded at her to show they understood her story. "So you thought that now you can control others you would set your eyes on a bigger prize..."

"I was getting to that bit Red!" Yuffie said impatiently. "Now that 'was' our original intention. Savina and I went on a trip to the Tower of London to have a look at these jewels. Now pretty as they are I never expected to find what I did hidden in them!" It looked like she was reaching the climax of her story. "In that rather nice scepter of theirs was a SUMMON materia!"

Tifa gasped, and Red quickly said, "What!? Are you certain?" He was now listening avidly.

"Positive." Yuffie replied, replacing the yellow orb into her arm. "Would need to get a closer look to see which one it is, but imagine what we could do with a summon materia!"

"It would certainly turn the tables if Sephiroth decides to make an appearance." Tifa agreed. "Well now everything makes a bit more sense..."

"So..." Yuffie began, doing a little twirl, "you guys will help me get it right?" She giggled.

Even though this was expected, it didn't stop the shocked looks crossing Tifa and Red's faces. "Have you gone mad?" Red said, and then corrected himself, "I mean, have you gone even madder than you previously were?"

"A summon guys!" She almost shouted at them.

"I'm not breaking into a tower for something like ChocoMog!" Red shouted back.

Yuffie looked at him skeptically. "Oh please, it's got to be something grander than that!" She looked at both of them. "Well..." Yuffie took a step forward, Red braced himself for a sudden show of force, "...it's not like you have much of a choice anyway..." She held up her right arm to indicate where she had placed the materia minutes before.

Red seemed to cotton on at that moment. He lunged at her, but then with a flick of her wrist he stopped, and then did was unmistakably a 'beg' in front of her, much like a dog. "I hate you..." He whispered.

"Love you too." Yuffie said in a maddening tone.

Tifa seemed to spot a flaw in her plan, she moved forward without any fear whatsoever and seized Yuffie's right arm. "That's enough. You can only control one person at a time, so let him go."

Yuffie gave a childish groan of annoyance. Red then moved abruptly away from her. "Oh come on, with three of us getting it would be easy." She pleaded.

Red looked away from her, Tifa however agreed. "Fine, but Red gets the materia, he is the only one of us without any."

She gave another groan of annoyance, but in the end she said, "Fine! It's a deal. So, tonight then?"

"Tonight!?" Red roared.

"No time like the present..." Yuffie replied, the grin coming back onto her face, "...sooner the better and all that jazz."

Tifa sighed in exasperation. She knew that once Yuffie had her mind set on something there was going to be no stopping her. "So how do we do it? I thought that the tower was one of the most heavily guarded places in London?"

Yuffie looked at her, the expression of glee on her face not faltering. "Well obviously we won't act until dark; it would be foolish to think we could take on that place in daylight." She sat down in the chair behind her. "Manipulate the guard to shut off most if not all of the security measures, a little tinkering with their camera's, and hey presto! One summon materia for us!"

"For me." Red interjected.

"Right!" Yuffie agreed, "For you. So let's get some rest, make sure your hosts aren't going to be a pain in the backside and then let's get going." She smiled.

"Hang on!" Red started, looking at her incredulously, "What kind of a plan is that? You just want to go in with one solid idea to manipulate 'one' guard? There are bound to be loads of them, no fewer than 30 at least. Leverage over one won't get us anywhere."

"Then stake it out." Tifa suggested, "Wait until a shift change, grab one of them on their way in, get him to...incapacitate the guards on the inside for us."

"Brilliant!" Yuffie agreed. "Of course I was thinking of that myself but I didn't want to look too smart." Tifa rolled her eyes, and as she did so Alex spoke to her.

"_This is insane! You are going to get us locked up! I haven't even finished college yet and you are going to get us imprisoned for crimes against the crown!" _If the voice had been physical the volume of it would have deafened Tifa.

She must have had a very vacant look on her face, because not a moment later, Red said to her. "Is your host giving you a scolding?" He chuckled as Tifa nodded in confirmation. "Mine too, something about things that can happen in prison...this thought sharing thing does not help when unpleasant images like THAT are put in your mind." He winched.

"Looks like I got lucky with my host." Yuffie started, curling up in her chair in a fetal position as if to go to sleep, "She keeps firing more useful ideas my way." She yawned, closed her eyes, and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly.

-

Night seemed to come along all too quickly that day. Before any of them knew it, they were walking through the streets, Red back into his ginger dog self, towards the Tower of London. Red having this ability was very useful, Tifa and Yuffie simply looked like a couple of friends out walking their dog, Yuffie was carrying a backpack with her which would be needed later. Every so often to break the uneasy tension that was in the air, Yuffie made him beg.

"If you do that one more time I swear I'm going bite off your materia arm!" Red snarled at her, the two women laughed. Red looked at Tifa with a look of deepest disappointment.

"I'm sorry." Tifa said, "But it is very funny." She gave him a quick smile.

"Just round the next corner, two minutes away at most." Yuffie quickened her pace slightly, the others followed suit. "Just across this bridge, right..." She pointed, "There!"

It was impossible to miss. The huge fort stood right on the edge of the River Thames, overlooking it.

"This is going to be impossible..." Tifa sighed, now faced with the enormity of the task ahead.

Yuffie gave her an annoyed poke in the ribs. "It's going to be simple. I mean come on, I almost did it without any help at all!"

"Should we really talk about this out in public?" Red pointed out.

"You two assaulted me in a sushi bar and you are telling me about not doing things in public!?" Yuffie yelled at him.

They fell silent and continued to walk across the long bridge. All too soon it seemed they were approaching the end, and the huge towed stood but fifty feet away from them on their left.

"The shift change is in twenty minutes. We have a good vantage point from here, not too many people around either..." Yuffie began, looking round at the almost deserted street. "One of them comes from that way." She pointed to a street heading in the opposite direction from the tower on a street below the bridge they were standing on. "I can drop down from here..."

"Drop down!?" Red exclaimed, "The fall is about fifty feet! It would kill you." It was very lucky there was no-one close enough to see that a dog had just spoken.

"Oh I have tricks up my sleeve." She said in response, and then looked over at Tifa, who had just hit herself in the head in apparent annoyance. "Host still giving you some trouble?" She nodded her response.

"Let's just hope we can get this done quickly so I don't have to listen to her whine anymore." Tifa said in annoyance, walking over to the edge of the bridge and looking down at the street below. "How much longer?"

"Five minutes." Yuffie said, looking at the huge Big Ben which was a couple of miles in the distance, it read five to eleven.

Three long minutes passed, during which nobody else came across their presence, and Red paced nervously. "Why are there no cars? It all seems too convenient..."

"Who cares...?" Yuffie said, looking in the direction she had indicated earlier. "Here he comes!"

A tall slim man in a black uniform was walking briskly in the direction of the tower. He seemed completely unaware that he was being watched.

"How close do you need to be for that to work?" Tifa asked, referring to the manipulate materia.

"Twenty feet, give or take." Yuffie replied, not taking her gaze off the man, "Once I have him under control I can hold it for up to one hundred easily."

The man was now walking under the bridge out of their sight. Yuffie moved to the edge which she was going to jump off and climbed over to the other side of the rail. She looked as though she was counting in her head, then she leaned forward and jumped gracefully off. It was strange, but it looked as though gravity did not affect her as much as it would any other human being. She fell with such finesse you would have thought she was on a wire.

Tifa and Red looked at each other. Then without warning, Yuffie called back up. "All fine, come down when you want." They both took the long way round to get down. When they got to Yuffie and the guard she grinned at them. "His name is Derrick, works in security, knows enough of the pass-codes to encrypt the camera's, won't be able to turn off the other security measures."

"Better than nothing." Tifa voiced. "Get him going then."

Yuffie obliged. She closed her eyes, and a moment later the man started walking briskly to what must have been the security entrance to the tower. "Closing my eyes allows me to see through his eyes, otherwise I am giving him blind instructions which could confuse the brain and cause damage."

"Where is he now?" Red asked, looking round at the still deserted street.

"Retina scan, I remember most of the way from last time I did this, saves me poking around inside Derricks head for information too much."

"Too much?" Tifa asked, not missing this. "What are you looking for?"

"The security around the Jewels themselves. That's where I failed last time, I rushed it." She winced, "He hit his foot, wasn't looking where I was going ha!" She gave a nervous little giggle.

Several long moments of silence went by. Tifa looked at the tower thinking. Alex seemed to have finally given up, or she was unconscious. "Which part are they stored in?"

"The middle." Yuffie replied, simply. "The security is intense. Pressure pads round the casing and in the casing itself. No way to turn them off either, and no way to replicate their weight. As soon as the weight changes the doors come down. whoever is inside is trapped and the alarms go off."

Red perked up. "How long after the weight change does it take for the doors to come down."

"One tenth of a second." Yuffie replied.

"Then how did you escape!?" Tifa exclaimed, eager to hear her explanation.

"I didn't" Yuffie replied simply. Both of them looked confused, not that she could see them as she had her eyes closed. "I hid inside; I'll show you how I kept myself concealed in a moment, just wait until our man..." She paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "...There!" She opened her eyes and looked at their confused faces, "I'm leaving him on auto for now, told him to act normal, bless him." She gave a wry smile.

Without warning she set off in the direction the manipulated guard had went, Tifa and Red hot on her heels. "Fastest way in is through the traitor's gate. None of the camera's will see us now and security should be minimal until we reach the centre."

Within seconds they were walking under a huge portcullis into the grand courtyard of the fort. Near the building in the centre were around ten Ravens, all of them glaring at the intruders with yellow eyes. It looked as though Red was suppressing a bark.

"Three of them patrolling the perimeter of the building. Let me handle them, don't need an alarm raised." Yuffie then did something very odd. She walked into the centre of the path which the guards were walking round, laid down, and then seemed to change color before their very eyes. Yuffie was now perfectly blended with the gravel beneath her, and not a minute later a guard was walking towards her.

When within two feet, Yuffie kicked the man off his feet and smashed a pressure point in his neck. He was unconscious. She got up and signaled the two of them to follow her. "Tifa, I'll sneak up behind him..." She indicated who she meant, "...Red, lure him back here for Tifa to get."

"And how am I..."

"Improvise!" Yuffie spat at him in a whisper, then set off silently towards her prey.

Red moved off to the left towards Tifa's victim and gave a bark that would only be audible to the guard. He turned round, saw the dog, and then started moving towards him. In what must have been a very embarrassing way, Red wagged his tail and looked up at the guard, who reached for his radio. Before he could signal for anyone however, Tifa had him round the neck, silently knocking him unconscious.

The three of them regrouped at the entrance to the central building. "Right," Yuffie began, "...nobody on the inside according to our man, stay close to me, not far now."

In no time at all, they were all standing in a vast dark room. Illuminated in the centre in a large glass dome was none other than the crown jewels. On the top most plinth, the crown, the second plinth, the orb, and below both of them, the scepter. They all moved closer.

"Stop here!" Yuffie said, throwing out an arm to stop both of them. "Pressure pads are on the floor just over a foot in front of us, not another step." They all gazed at the jewels.

Red noticed something. "Yuffie..." He began, staring at the jewel on top of the scepter. "It's BLUE! That is not summon materia, it doesn't even look like materia!"

"Keep looking at it." Yuffie replied, un-phased. It happened for about a second. After staying blue for what seemed like hours rather than minutes, the orb suddenly shone a dazzling red. "How else do you think I could tell it was materia from this distance?" She took her backpack off and placed it on the floor behind them, extracting what looked like a small gun and a lot of thin cord from it. "Things like this don't come cheap..." She said, attaching them together.

She first fired what seemed to be a small metal hoop into the ceiling above the dome. Then, aiming extremely carefully, she fired the chord through the hoop. "See what I'm doing yet children?" She teased at Red and Tifa. "Our man turned off the sensor's round the edge, looks like he is good with computers. Now Tifa, if you could grab this..." She handed one end of the chord to her, attaching the other end to her belt.

"Now..." Yuffie began. "As soon as I leave the floor I'm going to swing in the direction of the case, you need to pull me high enough to be above it before that happens!"

"I understand." Tifa said, pulling the chord as tight as it would go without lifting Yuffie off of the floor. "On three, ready? One...Two...Three!"

Yuffie jumped, and Tifa pulled as hard as she could. Yuffie seemed lighter than the average human. Seconds later, Yuffie was swinging a couple of inches above the dome. "Ok, in my bag there is a suction pad..." She began, extracting an abnormal sharp knife from her pocket and beginning work on the glass, "...throw it to me."

Red got the pad, and Tifa took one hand off of the chord to take it from him. Yuffie caught it easily, attaching it to the centre of the almost finished circle. Once finished, she effortlessly lifted out the glass and threw it away, careful not to hit the pressure pads.

"Now you two can't disguise yourself like I can..." Yuffie said, "...so I have had our man bug the system. The doors will take ten seconds from the moment I grab the scepter."

Red moved over to the door at once, leaving the two women in the centre. Yuffie detached the wire and held onto it by one hand, reaching into the dome with the other. "As soon as I have it out of the case I'm gonna jump, when I'm off the wire we both run for the door."

Tifa nodded, sweat now dripping down her forehead. "Ready when you are." She said, and not wanting to waste time counting down, Yuffie grabbed it.

The alarm was deafening. Yuffie jumped down from the wire with the agility of a ninja, which of course she was, and they sprinted to the door. With only a second to spare they were outside, when a huge metal door slammed down behind them. "RUN!"

Neither of them needed telling twice. Out of the centre building and into the courtyard, they were met with at least twenty guards running in their direction. They sprinted in the direction of the traitor's gate.

"Lower the portcullis!" One of the guards shouted. But too late, the three of them were out, the portcullis slamming behind them, which slowed their pursuers down as they frantically tried to raise it once more.

"Rendezvous at mine!" Yuffie sang, sprinting away from them, Tifa and Red hot on their heels.

On a building from above, a dark figure watched over the thieves progress. He extracted a phone from his pocket and hit speed dial one. "Yes sir...they've got it. Police won't be able to pursue. Of course not... within the month I am sure...yes of course...Mr President..."

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Uploads wont be quite as frequent due to high workloads, but will do them as often as possible. See ya all soon!

R&A


	9. Dark Horizon

Hey guys. Chapter have started to be written once more so enjoy chapter nine!

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**Chapter 9- Dark Horizon**

'_Police believe that inside help was used to aid the thieves with their goal. Our correspondent at the Tower of London reports...'_

It was everywhere on the news the following day. None of them could believe just how smoothly the operation had gone. Indeed, it was Yuffie's use of the manipulate materia that was what made this all possible. If it were not for the manipulation of the inside man, they doubted they would have got within the tower walls.

"I have no idea what it is though..." Yuffie expressed. They were back at her apartment, Yuffie on her feet pacing, Red laying down, and Tifa sitting down looking exhausted, "...I think the only way to tell would be to summon it...but that would not be very practical."

"For once I agree with you." Red said, looking up at her with a piercing gaze. "I mean, we would have no idea how it would react in this world, it may go rogue and destroy the city."

"So this is it is it?" Tifa asked, getting to her feet and starting to pace. "We go through all the trouble of stealing the damn thing and we don't even know what it was we stole...argh..." She suddenly put her palm on her forehead as if in pain.

"Host again?" Red and Yuffie asked at the same time.

"Yes..." Tifa replied, slowly taking her hand away, "...hasn't shut up all morning."

'_Authorities have confirmed that a man has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the crime. 42 year old Derrick Matthews was arrested earlier this morning at his home in Lewisham.'_

All three of them looked at the TV, stunned. How could they possibly have known that he was involved with the crime?

"I made sure he erased all traces of the virus' he installed...there is no way..." Yuffie closed her eyes in thought. "Ah yes...I see where you are coming from..."

"Host being useful I trust?" Tifa asked, taking her eyes away from the report on the TV.

"Yes, she suspects someone might have seen us talking to him, and as we can't be identified and he can, he was the only person they could locate to arrest..." This explanation seemed to make sense, but something still did not feel right...

"I wish there was a way to shut her up!" Tifa shouted, clutching her head once more. Red was being unusually calm and gave her an all knowing look. "What!" She snapped at him angrily.

"Well, what if there is a way?" He replied, getting to his feet and stretching, almost cat like. "Remember when you first saw me, but our hosts were in control at the time? I managed to make my host forget that, and if I'm not mistaken, you did too."

Tifa tried to recall the incident he was talking about. "Alex had just had her bag stolen...right?"

"Right." Red replied. "I think the ability to make them forget has always been in our subconscious, we just need to learn how to consciously use it."

Tifa then let out a small cry of pain. "Alex can hear you, she is not happy..."

"Ok listen to me..." Red said, walking over to her, "...I think I have learnt how to do it, let me walk you through it..."

"I'm home!" Alex called as she pushed open her familiar front door. As usual there was not a huge response to this announcement, most of her family were usually out. To her surprise however, a few seconds later her mother came walking towards her from the kitchen.

"Where have you been? I tried calling you but you didn't pick up!" Alex's mum was a kind natured lady, about the same height as her daughter, with long blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry, I was at Shaun's, terrible signal." Alex walked straight passed her into the kitchen and got herself a drink. "Anything interesting happened whilst I've been gone?"

"Only the obvious." Her mum replied. She walked over to the TV and turned it on. "You must have heard about this, can't find anything else on at all."

Alex walked into the front room and sat down in one of the comfy arm chairs.

'_Following the arrest of Derrick Matthews, Police are not entirely convinced he had any connection with the recent failed attempt that preceded this robbery at the tower, and are urging anyone to come forth with any information which they believe will help apprehend the criminals involved.'_

Alex was looking at the TV, stunned. "First I have heard of this!" She continued to watch the report, however couldn't help shaking the feeling that something was wrong, it felt familiar at the same time as feeling completely alien to her.

"They'll find whoever did it, this is going to be big news for a long time though..."

The following day at college was very predictable. The theft of the sceptre from the crown jewels was all anybody was talking about. Questions went from the logical to the ridiculous. Many people were asking themselves why the thieves hadn't taken all of the jewels, and had only gone for the sceptre. Perhaps they would never know.

"Ok so it is big news..." Alex said to Josh for the umpteenth time, "...but why keep talking about it? Nobody is going to solve the mystery."

"Wow you are grumpy..." Josh replied, chuckling a little, "...I'm almost glad you didn't return any of my calls."

"I said I'm sorry!" Of course, Alex was really trying to get her head around what had happened to her. The last couple of days felt very dream like, almost unreal.

"Don't worry, I'll get back at you at fencing tomorrow." Josh teased, this was news to Alex.

"You have actually gone and signed up for it then?" She asked, looking at him with a pained expression on her face. "One little demonstration of skill in a drama class doesn't mean you can fence...no offence..."

Josh merely let this comment wash over him. "We'll see about that tomorrow."

"There is no way you will be put against me in training, I'm way too advanced for you." Alex rolled her eyes, she was not trying to be mean, but she did not see why he was getting so excited.

"We shall see my friend, we shall see..." He smiled to himself, "...anyways I'm on a free period now, so I'll see you later."

Alex went her own way to her next class, and Josh headed for the cafe to get himself a drink.

"_Much more important things to think about than fencing..." _Sephiroth said. Josh had the feeling that this wasn't directed at him, it was more like thinking aloud. He tried to put him out of his mind.

Entering the cafe and getting his favourite drink, Josh was struck by a sudden idea. If Sephiroth could so easily delve into his mind, would it be so difficult for him to do so in reverse? He took a sip of his drink and listened intently, though Sephiroth remained silent this time.

It took a lot of concentration, but after a while, thoughts that certainly were not Josh's started flooding into his mind. It was a whirl of colour that he could not understand, it was all happening so quickly. After a short time of seeing these images however, Sephiroth seemed to become aware that Josh was looking into his mind.

"_What do you think you are doing?" _He sounded quite calm, as though he had expected Josh to attempt this one day.

"_I thought I would make things fair." _Sephiroth said nothing to this, he was too busy wondering if Josh understood anything that he had seen, or indeed, if he had seen enough of it.

"_I need to be somewhere tonight, I'm taking over once you get home." _This made Josh gag on some of his drink.

"_What do you mean 'taking over'?" _This was not something that Josh had been prepared for.

There was a slight pause before Sephiroth answered. _"You didn't expect me to stay cooped up in your mind forever now did you? I need to get some air thank you..." _The false politeness in his voice made him sound even more terrifying than ever.

Josh's heart started to race. He was considering just staying in somebody's company for the next evening to stop whatever it was Sephiroth had planned from happening.

"_Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you..." _Sephiroth said calmly, obviously reading his thoughts. _"If you do I will kill whoever you are with, make sure you are alone and you needn't fear this from happening, do you understand?"_

Josh was now mortified, but replied. _"...Yes." _What choice did he have? He was not aware that Sephiroth would be able to completely take over his body. _"So what is going to happen?"_

"_We swap. You stay in the mind, my physical form comes out..."_

Night came along quicker than Josh wanted. The transformation from his form to Sephiroth was not what he had expected. It felt like he was on the verge of being sick, but instead of being sick, it simply went black. All he could see from then onwards was the world through Sephiroth's eyes. It was not as clear as it was through his eyes, it was like looking through a fogged up window, or as if his eyesight had just got worse. Whether or not this was Sephiroth's normal sight, he did not know, but he did not dare ask either.

"Right well first things first." Sephiroth said out loud. Josh had the feeling he had got tired of only replying by thought. His voice sounded underused. "I need to know the best place to go to find out general information."

"_The internet." _Josh replied. He did not know why, but it felt good to have more knowledge than this incredibly powerful person.

"Which is?" He asked. It was odd hearing him be so polite, however Josh was sure it was false.

"_It's a network that the whole world can access that contains pretty much every piece of information you would ever want...or need, to know." _There was a long silence, during which Sephiroth paced the length of Josh's room a good three times.

It was fortunate that nobody was home considering Sephiroth always chose to answer out loud. "And where can I access this 'internet'?" He asked, walking over to the mirror.

Josh all of a sudden felt as though he was falling, then found himself standing face to face with Sephiroth. So this was what it was like to be a parasite rather than a host... It also enabled him to talk rather than think his replies.

"Any computer that is wired up to the internet. Ours is down at the moment though. Best place you can try is the library in town, it's open until ten." Josh looked at Sephiroth's reaction to this, he seemed almost stunned.

"I find it highly inefficient to keep such a huge knowledge base in one place. I'm surprised this world isn't in ruins, knowledge is a greater power than any of us possess." He then looked at his forearm and touched a finger to it. A two green orbs rose to the surface of his skin.

"Where did you get the other one?" Josh asked, stunned.

"I didn't, I must have had it the entire time... Interesting..." He touched his forearm again and the orbs vanished beneath the skin, leaving no trace. "Direct me to the library."

Sephiroth had chosen to don some of Josh's attire so as to blend in with the crowd a bit more efficiently. This was not entirely necessary, there were so few people around at this hour that it was highly unlikely people would give him a second glance. It did not take long for him to reach the library, which was on the outskirts of town, and had become somewhat of a refuge for Josh before Sephiroth had began sharing his mind and body.

It was somewhat comical Josh teaching Sephiroth how to use the internet, however Sephiroth seemed to have an accelerated rate of learning. In no time he was browsing the internet like he had been using it since he was born. Josh found this quite remarkable.

Sephiroth looked into the screen and saw Josh's reflection looking back at him. "Can I ask what it is you are looking for?"

He continued to browse. _"With you in my head I am hardly going to be able to keep it a secret for much longer..." _He continued to search. _"From what I can guess...and believe me when I say that my guesses are usually right, the more powerful materia in this world are appearing at landmarks or within objects of a considerable value. You saw the crown jewels theft?"_

"Of course..." Josh replied from the screen. "What about them?"

Sephiroth brought up a recent image of the crown Jewels on the computer screen. _"There was summon materia in that sceptre...somebody beat me too it. No matter though, I have my eyes set on an even bigger prize."_

Josh did not know whether or not he wanted to ask what this 'bigger prize' was, but thought better than to push for more information. "So that's why you are looking at Stone Henge...the Eiffel Tower... and those sorts of places?"

"_I do have a feeling about them yes..." _He looked at more historic landmarks, "_this one is likely...as is this one...not too sure about this one as it is very modern, but it will be worth a look..."_

Josh found it difficult to focus, it was as though not having to be in control of a body was making his mind lethargic and sleepy.

"The library will be closed in five minutes." A voice said over the pa system.

"_I think that's our cue to leave..." _Sephiroth thought.

Without any hesitation he logged off of the computer and headed straight for the exit. The attendant thanked him as he left, Sephiroth however said nothing.

There was a small crowd outside, something which he was not prepared for. "_A movie must have just finished." _Josh said to him.

He continued to walk straight through the crowd, not wanting to be seen by anyone who could be a potential enemy, after all, any of his foes could be contained within anyone.

Josh had obviously read his thoughts. "_Can you tell when there is someone else playing host?"_

"_No." _Sephiroth replied simply, _"Not yet anyway, but I couldn't sense materia before, so who knows what may happen..."_

He was almost out of the crowd when Josh noticed something very strange. There was a man in dark red attire looking straight at them, and he appeared to be holding a...

"_Gun!" _Josh shouted, but too late. There was a deafening BANG followed by a bullet tearing its way through Sephiroth's left shoulder.

There were screams from the crowd as panic followed. Sephiroth saw his attacker who took aim, fired again and then...

There was a flash of blue light, and a sound like a gong being struck. What appeared to be a translucent barrier had formed straight in front of them. There was another shot, but this time instead of the barrier simply absorbing the bullet, it bounced back at the attacker.

"_For god sake... we're out of here. I'm letting you take over when we are out of sight, the attacker won't recognise you..."_

Josh was surprised how at the following day at college nobody had heard about the gunman in town. He was certain the news would have spread just as fast as the crown jewels theft, but nobody said a word about it.

"_Very odd indeed..." _Sephiroth agreed with him. Josh was starting to get sick of the whole thought sharing process...

The day was like any other, and Josh had completely forgotten about fencing after college until Alex brought the subject up.

"You going to put me in my place then I take it?" She teased, Josh said nothing. "...I'm only joking! Jesus what is up with you? You've been acting very odd today."

Josh was strongly considering telling Alex everything. He trusted her so much, but would she think he was crazy?

"_Don't consider it, you know what I will do..." _Josh gulped.

After college Alex and Josh made their way to the sports centre where Alex took her fencing lessons. Josh could not help but feel overconfident, sharing his mind and body with Sephiroth was bound to make him a cut above the rest after all.

"Hello Josh, I'm Sophie your instructor." A woman black hair tied back neatly said to Josh upon entering. "Have you done any fencing before?"

"No I haven't..." Josh replied.

"That's ok, we will just stick to basics today just to introduce you to it."

Everybody got changed into their fencing gear and prepared for the class. Much to everybody's complete shock, Josh appeared to be very talented with a sword. Alex was watching him very closely, it was almost as though he had been training in secret.

"You are a natural!" Sophie said to him, having just watched him beat an intermediate student hands down. "But don't get complacent, let's see how you do against...Alex!"

This was exactly what she had been hoping for. So he had got lucky up until now, it would be nothing that Alex couldn't handle. "Let me show you how to fence properly." She winked at him.

"_Destroy her..." _Sephiroth said to Josh.

The match was a very close fight. It seemed that both fighters were able to read each other's moves perfectly. Alex however, prevailed in the end. The rest of the class had stopped training just to watch the fight. They all burst into applause.

"_Impossible..." _Sephiroth muttered, "..._But interesting..."_

"_Alex something is wrong..." _Tifa said to her, worried, "_...how is he so good?"_

"_He must just be a natural..."

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_A/N. _Hopefully the story is beginning to make sense hehe, it all comes together nicely we promise you :). Let us know what you thought in a review!

R&A


	10. Familiar Aura

Not too long a wait this time =). Enjoy chapter ten!

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Chapter Ten- Familiar Aura

The week following Alex and Josh's fight passed extremely quickly, and they seemed to discuss nothing else. It was one thing in Alex's opinion that he got lucky in a rehearsed drama fight, but to be so impressive in his first competitive fight was just unnatural. There was no rational explanation for it, if she didn't know better she would have thought he had been training for the same period of time that she had.

Today however this was all irrelevant, today was Career day at college, so for the first time in the last seven days, the two of them were forced to draw their discussions away from swords and techniques, and focus on their future job prospects.

"I still think these things are pointless…" Josh began, "…I mean, what are the odds of us actually going into any of the job paths that we see in there?"

They were walking up towards the main hall of the college. Most of the students were filing in and out of the double doors as they approached them, all holding different coloured leaflets, no doubt full of information regarding a certain career.

"We need some kind of guidance, we can't just finish college and go out into the world with no idea… Unless you are planning on going to University?"

"Maybe I am…" Josh replied to Alex. This made her laugh, he was hardly the academic. "Oh shut up, are you planning on going then?"

"Maybe I am." She replied, mimicking his answer. "I've got more of a chance than you at any rate." She thought for a moment. "I would have thought you would want to go on to be a professional fencer anyways?"

Josh couldn't help but grin at this, he could tell that she was still being a little bit sour about nearly being beaten by him.

"Maybe I will." He replied. Alex grinned back at him.

They had reached the entrance into the hall. Upon entering they noticed that it was decked out with many stands, each with one to three people behind them. Several of them looked vacant and did not appear to be drawing much interest at all, Alex soon saw that these were mainly catering companies. The usual knuckle-heads could be found queuing up at the Army stand, one that both of them took a mental note to avoid.

"Well, better start looking around then I guess." Josh said, and together they started walking round the stands.

It was mostly dull work. What scared them both was how much these people seemed to admire their jobs, even those who were working for catering companies. Indeed, it seemed that no matter what career they looked at, it always had to be, in the employees opinion, the best thing that had ever happened to them in their lives.

"Do you think any of these people have families?" Alex joked, looking at Josh.

"They probably did, but they must have killed them when they commented on their 'workaholicness'."

Alex laughed. "Is that even a word."

"No, but it sounded good in my head." Josh laughed along with her.

All of a sudden Tifa decided to start talking to Alex. _"Can't you sense it too?"_

Alex was starting to get sick of having to have two conversations all the time. _"Sense what? All I can sense is you being a right pain in the…"_

"_There has got to be another parasite here besides Red…" _Tifa seemed to go oddly silent after she said this, and Alex was in no doubt why.

She started to reply to her. _"What do you mean besides Red? Since when was there anyone called Red?" _Tifa was still being deadly silent.

The truth of the matter was that Tifa had modified Alex's memory, which was a little perk to being a Parasite. This was what Red had taught her right after the Tower of London robbery which they had carried out. Unfortunately, this was not what you would call an exact science, and instead of wiping Alex's memory of the robbery which was what she had intended, she had wiped her memory back to before she had even met Red XIII.

"_Well? Who is this Red?" _Tifa really did not know how she was going to get out of this one without wiping her memory again, and doing that in such a public location could result in quite dire consequences.

"_Forget I said anything like that for now, I'm sure you will find out soon enough anyway. But no, the one that I am referring to is in this room with us right now, I just can't tell who it is…"_ This seemed to stop Alex from questioning the matter any further.

Josh seemed to notice that Alex had gone unusually vacant. "Did you listen to anything that he just told us?"

"No…" Alex replied in a somewhat dreamy state, "…was it very interesting?"

"Well…no. But that's not the point." Josh seemed greatly annoyed that Alex had somehow managed to switch off and avoid being bored to death.

"Meh…" Alex seemed completely fine with this, "…can we take a break from this anyway? I am getting kind of hungry?"

Grateful for any excuse to get away from the so far boring careers stands, the two of them made their way to the café, neither of them discussing much about what had just went on. They grabbed the table at their normal place by the window to ensure nobody else took it, then went up separately to get their food.

"The only one that looks like it is going to be any good is that telecommunications company, but that is always so busy!" Josh exclaimed.

"Oh well, with any luck it won't be so bad after lunch, will just have to see." Alex was finding it difficult to string a sentence together at the moment, Tifa was still talking to her.

"_Well I can't sense them anymore, they must still be inside the hall." _Tifa seemed to be deep in thought. Though Alex was interested in the possibility of another host being nearby, she was finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate on both her and Josh.

"Are you actually going to start eating of just sit there daydreaming?" Josh laughed.

"What? Oh yeah…" Alex picked up her burger and began to eat.

Josh continued to eat his food too, then noticed something extremely odd. Sephiroth had not spoken to him for the past twenty four hours, something which he did not think was possible. Perhaps after Josh attempted to read his mind he was trying as hard as possible to keep his thoughts separate. Whatever it was he was attempting however was working, or perhaps, if Josh was extremely lucky, he had gone.

At this precise moment Josh heard his phone ringing. "Do you mind if I go somewhere else to answer this, it's kind of loud in here…"

"What?" Alex said, looking up at him with a mouthful of burger.

"My phone, I won't be long." He got up and walked outside, Alex still looking at him with an expression of puzzlement written on her face.

Josh looked at his phone and saw unknown number, he answered it. "Hello?"

"I haven't." A voice said to him on the other end of the phone.

Josh paused for a moment, wondering what this meant. "Excuse me? Who is this?"

"I haven't gone." The voice said again. Things then seemed to click into place in Josh's head. "Took you long enough to work that out…"

"How the hell are you ringing my phone!" Josh almost shouted at him, earning him several odd looks from passers-by.

"I'm not." Sephiroth replied to him. "I just wanted to get you away from everybody else so I could talk to you a bit more privately."

Josh looked at his phone and sure enough, all he could see was his contacts list where he had pressed the button to pick up. He put the phone back to his ear, then realised this was purely so other people didn't suspect anything.

"What do you want to say anyway? I haven't heard a word from you for ages." Josh could not say that he was particularly bothered by this, it had made a nice change.

"Last week you asked me if I could sense other hosts, I told you I couldn't…" Sephiroth began, "…well now I can, and there is one in that hall right now."

Josh's eyes widened at this news. "Who is it?" He asked, "Who is the host?"

"I don't know, all I can do is tell when one is nearby, I can't tell who it actually is…yet…" Sephiroth seemed to be getting irritated with his lack of abilities.

"So even if I go back there right now you won't have any idea who it is?" Josh asked him.

"Well…" Sephiroth began, "…I'm sure they will be doing something that makes them stand out from the crowd."

With that the dial tone sounded on Josh's phone, or at least Sephiroth was making this tone play inside his head. Josh was not certain why Sephiroth was using this type of communication, but it was certainly more familiar than just talking to a voice in his head.

He walked back into the café where he saw that Alex had now finished her burger and was halfway through her drink. She looked up at him with a curious expression on her face as he approached her.

"What was all that about? I didn't even hear your phone going off!" She looked suspicious now.

"It was on vibrate." Josh replied, he had thought up this excuse the second that he found out the phone call was not genuine. "Was nothing overly important."

Alex decided not to press the issue any further. "I'll be back in a second."

"Where you going?"

"Nature calls." She got up and walked off towards the toilets, only to find that the ones in the café were locked for cleaning.

Alex had no choice but to walk to the ones in the corresponding building, which were almost always very badly kept and therefore deserted. She was almost there when she heard the unmistakeable sound of somebody sobbing.

Deciding to investigate, she followed the sound. Slouched against a wall in a dark corner of the corridor was none other than Shaun. Alex was taken aback, she had not expected to ever see Shaun break down like this.

"My god what's up mate?" She walked over to him and put a comforting arm over his shoulders.

He seemed to be so delirious it was difficult for him to speak. "Well…" He managed to choke out in between sobs. "Alex…I think I'm going mad…"

"How do you mean?" She said, squeezing his shoulder slightly reassuringly. Whatever it was to make him act like this it must have been bad.

He looked at her. Obviously he was unsure about whether or not he could tell Alex. She did not know why, but Alex felt that she knew what was wrong, it was an odd feeling. It must have been the same thing she was going through, it wasn't even a guess, somehow she just knew.

"A voice…" Shaun began, "…in my head, keeps talking to me, I must be going skits…"

They looked at each other, and then something very strange happened. Shaun's eyes flashed a deep red colour for what must have been five long seconds. There was no doubt in Alex's mind, and almost automatically she said to him.

"You are a host…" It was a statement she was expecting to shock Tifa with, on the contrary however, she was completely unsurprised.

"_This is the one that I already knew about…I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do, I can I say in advance that I am deeply sorry…" _She sounded almost afraid, like a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar.

"So it would seem…" Shaun replied. Alex had a strong suspicion that the voice in his head, whoever it was, had just confirmed this, "…what is a host?"

"I don't really know, it's all so confusing…" Alex replied, "…what does your voice call itself?"

"Nanaki? Or something along those lines…" He had just about managed to stop crying, "…yours?"

"Tifa." It felt odd saying her name aloud. The two of them stood up straight and Shaun composed himself. The feeling of complete trust between them was something that could not be explained, perhaps that feeling, like the parasites themselves, was just unnatural.

"We had better get back to the hall otherwise we will be missed…" Shaun explained.

Together they walked back to the café to collect Josh, only to find that when they got back he had already left. Deciding that he had probably headed back to the hall as well, they continued. Fortunately it was much quieter now that lunch was over, most of the stands had few or no students at them, yet still the one that was most popular was the telecommunications company.

They spotted Josh over at that very stand and went over to join him.

"Nice of you to wait for me." Alex said when they reached him, giving him a very sour look.

"You took like…ten minutes, I thought I would just meet you back here." He then spotted Shaun, but said nothing. "Anyway, have you listened to this guy?"

Shaun and Alex looked at the man standing behind the stand. He was a tall man, with startling green eyes and smart black hair. He had a thick American accent, and a badge pinned to his blazer informed them that his name was 'Charles Matthew-Daniels'.

Alex did not really take in much of what he was saying, but for some reason found herself very interested in listening to him. Whatever it was he was talking about, be it company turnovers, buying out smaller rivals or how many people he had employed, she found that he could make it sound meaningful.

"_Wow, I never knew telecoms could be so fascinating…" _Tifa said inside her head. Alex had been expecting something sarcastic, however she sounded genuine. _"No wonder this guy draws a crowd."_

"And that…" Charles stated, "…is why a career in my company would be a successful future for all."

Everybody gave him a light round of applause, collected a few of the leaflets that were at the stand and walked off. Josh went up to him and started talking, something which Alex did not want to witness, so busied herself with the leaflet.

She began to read it, and something in her mind seemed to click into place, though she could not quite pet her finger on what it was, and neither apparently, could Tifa, who was babbling some sort of nonsense at her. She was talking to fast inside her head it was making her incomprehensible.

Josh came over to Alex. "Wow, I am actually considering a career in telecoms now." He really did seem interested.

Alex looked over at Charles and caught his eye for a second, and could have sworn that they had changed from a deep green to a dark black. This made her think.

"_Tifa, it has to be him!" _She exclaimed. Tifa said nothing in response, but she was sure that she agreed with her.

Career day however had just come to an end. Teachers were now signalling for students to move out of the hall so that people could pack up. Alex, Josh and Shaun all left. All of a sudden however, Alex felt extremely sick.

"Guys I've got to go quick…" Without waiting for an answer she ran as fast as she could towards the nearest set of toilets, went in a cubical and locked it.

Instead of being sick, it was a transformation. A painful minute later Tifa was standing in the cubical of the girls toilets, something which had only happened once before to Alex.

"_What did you go and do that for!" _She shouted at Tifa, who got out of the cubical and checked to see if there was anyone else in the toilets. They were deserted however.

"Sorry…" She said outloud, "…couldn't control it."

The phone in Alex's jeans then started to ring. _"Don't even think about answering that…"_

Tifa took the phone out of her pocket and looked at it. The number was denied. Not wanting to annoy Alex any further she decided to just let it ring through to answer phone. Almost immediately after it stopped ringing however, it started again. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Tifa?" This was unnerving. How could someone calling Alex's phone know this.

"Who is this?" Tifa replied, curiously.

"It's Reeve." She could not think of any news that would be more welcoming.

"Reeve!" Tifa almost shouted back at him. "How did you get this number? How did you know it was me?"

"All in good time." Reeve replied. "As for how I got the number, I own the company who contracts her phone."

"You were the man in the hall?" She asked.

"Yes, I will explain everything later. We need to meet. Do you know where any of the others are?" He asked.

"Just Red and Yuffie, but Yuffie is in London." Tifa began, "Where are we going to meet, when? We need to discuss this situation."

"Agreed, I have information that you should find very interesting. Bring Red with you, I will contact Yuffie later, all I need is her hosts name."

Later on that evening, Tifa and the all too familiar ginger dog were walking down the street towards the town's main park. Getting hold of Red was not as difficult a task as Tifa had expected, especially now their hosts both knew each other for what they were.

"This should clear up a few questions." The dog said to her.

"Yes, the more of us we find the easier things will be…I think."

It was not long before they were in the park. In the distance they could see a tall man with black hair dressed in a smart blue suit. They quickened their pace and within a few short seconds, they were reunited with none other than…

"Reeve!" Tifa said, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.

"Tifa." He replied with a smile, "Red." He then looked down at the dog, who swiftly transformed into the red furred Nanaki. "Let's walk and talk, we have much to discuss…"

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Authors Notes: Let us know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated. Chapters should be a bit more frequent from now on!

R&A


	11. Dual Fusion

Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the last chapter. They are being written fairly quickly now so expect the story to be finished within the next month (easily xD) as most. Enjoy chapter eleven!

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**-Chapter Eleven-**

**Dual Fusion**

The arrival of Reeve was welcome to both Red and Tifa. It had come completely out of the blue, and the two of them were both curious as to how he had managed to track them both down, or if it was pure coincidence that he had turned up here.

Reeve took them back to the hotel that his host was staying in. His host was obviously very wealthy, because he could afford the best suite in the hotel. It was luxury, with its own kitchen complete with bar, a grand piano, a queen size bed and a huge television. It also had a balcony which overlooked the entire city.

Reeve went and sat in one of the comfortable looking arm chairs and looked over at them both. "Well, this is a messy situation we have all gotten ourselves into, wouldn't you say?"

He beckoned for them to take a seat. Tifa was the first to reply. "Do you have any idea why this is happening to us Reeve?"

Reeve walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of whisky. He did not return to sit down. "I can't say why this has happened, all I can do is my best to make sense of what we do now."

He took a sip of his drink and offered Tifa one, who refused. "So what do we do now?"

Before he could answer there was a knock at the door. Reeve set down his glass, went over and looked through the peep hole in the door, then opened it. None other than Yuffie came bounding on through.

"Yay! The whole gang is slowly getting back together, we can all be happy again!" She was beaming as she bounced into the room, doing an unnecessary backflip onto the sofa next to Tifa. "Hello again you!" She hugged her.

Reeve walked back over and resumed his seat in the armchair. "Like I was saying, the only way for us to make the best of this is with knowledge and…"

"And materia!" Boomed Yuffie, cutting him off. Reeve, Tifa and Red all rolled their eyes at the same time. "Speaking of which…" She pressed a point on her forearm and made a red orb surface on it, "…here you go, as promised." She threw it to Red who caught it in his mouth.

"Do you know what it is yet?" He asked her, putting it on himself.

"Yes!" Yuffie replied, much to Red's disbelief. "It's Alexander, knew it had to be something good, wouldn't have been rubbish the amount of effort we put into stealing it."

Red looked at her curiously, there was something in the way she explained this that he didn't like. Tentatively, he asked. "How did you find out what it was?"

Yuffie looked a little shifty at this question, and seemed to try and avert her gaze from him. "Well…you know you said that the only way we can find out what it is would be to summon it?"

"Oh god…" Red said, looking downright alarmed. "Don't tell me you…"

"I did it in a very remote location!" Yuffie stated, trying to defend herself. "Trust me, nobody saw it, nobody has a clue it exists, everything is sunshine and rainbows." She smiled her annoying cocky smile.

"So…" Began Reeve, looking at each of them in turn, "…I take it that means you three were responsible for the break-in at the Tower of London?"

They all looked at him with somewhat proud looks on their faces. "Well yes we were." Yuffie answered, giggling.

Reeve took another sip of his drink. "Well like I was saying, we need knowledge, and though I hate to admit it, Yuffie is right. We need materia as well. As I'm sure you all have noticed, it is scattered throughout this world in seemingly random locations."

"I don't think it is random." Voiced Tifa. "Well, at least not the powerful materia. It seems too convenient for materia that powerful to end up in a secure hard to reach location."

Reeve considered this. "You may be right. We should start checking similar areas, banks perhaps, high security vaults." He gazed off into the distance as if deep in thought.

"You said you had information for us Reeve?" Red questioned.

"Indeed." He replied simply, "Much information, some of it not completely relevant yet still interesting." He looked at them all, and then asked. "What are your relationships like with your hosts?"

"Very on and off…" Tifa was the first to answer, "…could be a lot better."

"Barely know him, I keep wiping his memory." Red replied, looking neutral.

"I wouldn't advise doing that if I were you." Reeve replied, "I will explain why in a minute."

"Well my host and I get on like a house on fire." Yuffie exclaimed, she seemed very happy. "But then again we do both love shiny expensive things which we don't have to pay for."

"Right…" Reeve replied looking slightly unimpressed. "Well may I suggest that you all develop a good relationship with your hosts, it will help you out a lot I can assure you."

"How?" Tifa asked, feeling slightly guilty about wiping her memory.

"To start, you will be able to change forms almost at will. You won't be able to take control if the Host really doesn't want you to." He downed the rest of his whisky, and then turned his attention directly to Red. "Erasing their memory could give them and yourself permanent brain damage, which is something I am sure you want to avoid."

Red's face turned to an expression of pain. Tifa was in no doubt that his host was currently giving him a scolding.

"_Have you ever erased my memory?" _Alex asked Tifa, not sure if she even wanted to know the answer.

Tifa answered her, and Alex then went oddly silent. Reeve continued. "There are many benefits all of this however. We can benefit from one another, as I have found out from my host…" He looked at them all, "…Being the head of a very respectable company, my host has learnt French, German, Spanish and Italian. Since he knows them, so do I, something which has already come in very useful."

This was news to all of them. Until now they had thought sharing a body was simply convenience, no benefits. They were now hanging on his every word.

"Make sure all your hosts are listening because they will want to hear this one…" Reeve began, making them all curious, "…If both the Host and the 'Parasite', as we are, agree, they can pass the parasite on to another person."

"What!" Tifa, Yuffie and Red all shouted at the same time.

"How do you know that?" Yuffie asked, no longer in a very cheery mood.

"I have contact with another one of us, for reasons I can't explain yet I cannot say who, but they have already done so several times." He then offered Yuffie a drink, who accepted.

Taking a swig of the drink she then inquired, "But if we don't want to leave they can't make us leave, right?"

"Not to my knowledge." Reeve replied, looking very serious, "but none of us can be sure, new surprises are emerging every day."

They all went suddenly quiet. Reeve suspected that they were all having discussions with their hosts about this latest point.

Tifa decided to break the silence. "Anything else?"

"Oh there is much more yet," He began, a smile now creeping onto his face, "and some of these I'm sure will convince your hosts to let you stay." There was again a silence which ensured they were listening. "For example, both ourselves and the hosts age three times as slow as normal people."

Tifa chuckled. "And judging on the vanity of this planet that news will be welcomed with open arms."

"Indeed." Reeve agreed. "At our current rate of ageing, we could quite comfortable reach two hundred years of age. I am hopeful that we will have found a solution to this predicament before then."

They all laughed slightly nervously. They all agreed however that this news would be a powerful persuasion point for them to use against their hosts should ever they suggest passing them on to someone else.

"Something which I am sure all of you may have experienced at some point." Reeve started again, "Is that yourselves and your hosts both have shared fighting knowledge. Meaning…"

"I know what you mean Reeve." Tifa cut him off, thinking back to the first day that she was here, "I remember, my host was in a tournament and I helped her win."

"Exactly, but it doesn't just work one way. Tifa, you're host does fencing correct?" He asked her.

"Well yes, but how did you know…"

"You are mainly trained in hand to hand combat, but as your host has extensive sword knowledge, you will too." He cut her off.

Tifa looked impressed at this, she had always wanted to take up swordplay. "I can't believe we didn't know any of this, how are you finding all of this out?"

"Like I said, I have sources which I can't discuss. They have proved very useful however."

Reeve took a moment to let them absorb all of this new information that he had given them. They were undoubtedly discussing it all with their hosts. After a few short minutes he decided to continue.

"There are of course the obvious perks, such as we can both use materia. Nobody else in the world besides ourselves and our hosts can use materia." This news did not seem like anything new for Yuffie, it did however for Tifa.

"I've never thought about it. Then again I only have this one anyway." She produced the purple orb from her forearm.

"Which one is that?" Reeve asked curiously.

"Pre-emptive. Not my first choice in materia but still it's better than nothing." She replaced the orb in her arm and looked over at Reeve, waiting for him to continue.

"Right…" He began, regaining his trail of thought, "…perhaps the most obvious point: We thought share, and I don't mean just for communication, we have access to pretty much all of each other's current and previous thoughts."

This point did not come as a shock to anybody. "It gets rather annoying after a while." Red perked up, a scowl on his face.

"It got annoying very quickly, I don't think a while was necessary." Tifa joked, looking over at him.

"For us, and us alone…" Reeve cut in, "…we possess 'The Instinct', which is our way of sensing each other. I don't know if this was the same for you three but my instinct has only been a recent thing."

Yuffie, Tifa and Red all nodded. The first time that they had experienced the instinct was when Tifa and Red had sensed Yuffie was in London.

"Perhaps we should start putting this instinct to good use?" Tifa suggested, making the others look at her quizzically. "Well, if Sephiroth is in the same situation as us which he undoubtedly is, the sooner we find him and his host the better, surely?"

For the first time that evening, Reeve looked slightly uneasy. "There has been a recent sighting of Sephiroth."

Yuffie, who was taking a sip of her drink at the time, almost choked and spat a large quantity of her drink onto Red who was sitting in front of her. "Where and when?"

"Both irrelevant, he could be anywhere by now." He looked at them. "He seems to have found a way to shield himself from the instinct. I'm not sure whether he is doing this consciously or if it is just a subconscious ability he possesses due to his power…Either way, the only way we will ever find him is if he chooses to reveal himself…currently…"

"Currently?" Red asked.

"Our abilities seem to be forever expanding, there is the possibility that with time our instinct will be so well tuned it can find him." He looked very doubtful at this.

"How come he hasn't sensed us? He would have come after us the second he knew who we were." Tifa speculated, Reeve seemed to have an answer planned for this.

"I see two possibilities." He began, going over to get another drink, "Either blocking us has meant turning off his own instinct, or he does not feel he is powerful enough to take us on."

"Or…" Red cut in, "…he has not found us yet."

"Wishful thinking much Red?" Yuffie joked. It was true that this explanation was too good to hope for.

"Believe it or not, I don't think Sephiroth is our main concern at the moment." Reeve began, this seemed to startle them all. "Well, sources tell me that the President is here too."

Yuffie looked a little confused. Tifa and Red however already knew this.

"He knows where we are already." Tifa began explaining to Reeve, who did not seem to be at all surprised by this.

"Knowing Rufus and his resourcefulness, it wouldn't shock me if he knew where every single one of us were, this is why he is currently our greatest threat." Reeve stated.

"Or we could use it to our advantage?" Red asked, "Couldn't we find out through him where the rest of our allies are?"

"He would not tell us willingly, he wants us to be divided." Tifa answered, "Even with his resourcefulness I doubt he knows a great deal more than us. Like Reeve said, things are constantly changing."

"Do we even know where Rufus is?" Yuffie asked Reeve.

"No." He replied, looking solemn, "And knowing him he isn't likely to stay in one place for too long."

There was a long silence after this. Tifa, Red and Yuffie were all very surprised and just how much knowledge Reeve seemed to have gained. Whatever his sources were they were good, it was just a shame that he would not share who or what they were.

"Anything else you can tell us Reeve?" Tifa inquired.

"That is everything I know of value at the moment." He replied, "Anything I haven't mentioned that you guys know?"

Tifa and Red both shook their heads, Yuffie however spoke up. "Well I don't really know if this is anything useful, but I have this weird ability to camouflage myself." She demonstrated by blending in almost perfectly with the sofa which she was sitting on.

Reeve looked intrigued and impressed. "How do you do that?"

"I don't know, but I have been able to do it ever since I got here." She resumed her usual colour and texture. "It's pretty nifty though right?"

He chuckled. "It is, and for some reason I doubt any of us would be able to do it no matter how hard we tried… A unique ability…interesting…"

Reeve fell silent, and Tifa was under the distinct impression that he was talking this through with his host. Perhaps he was right, having a decent relationship with your host would make things easier.

"Can your host do that too?" Reeve asked, obviously wanting to know as much as possible.

"Yep." Yuffie beamed at him, "And it has come in handy sometimes I can tell you!"

"So that is something else which we share with our hosts. Anything else that I don't know? The more knowledge we can pool together the better." He looked at her expectantly, however much to his disappointment she shook her head. "No matter. I think that is enough for us to be getting on with tonight."

They all got up to leave, Reeve stopped them however.

"What is it Reeve?" Tifa asked.

"The recent sighting of Sephiroth was in this area…" They all stood still, shocked, "I would advise you stay here at the hotel. I can pay for three rooms for you."

"Appreciated Reeve." Red replied.

"You will need to let your host take over unless you want to sleep on the floor as a dog."

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AN- Much to come, there still is (woop woop yoda speak, nothing to do with ff but still...). Please review, let us know what we are doing right and wrong! Next chapter soon!

R&A


	12. Sephiroth's Revelation

Here you go guys, told you it wouldnt be too long for this chapter. Hope you like it!

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**-Chapter Twelve-**

**Sephiroth's Revelation**

The room was huge, about the size of a cathedral. In this room was what must have been the most high tech equipment in the world. In the middle of this grand room was a table with a map of the world imprinted on it. On this map were many different coloured lights, each either flashing or staying a solid colour. Standing in at the side of this table in the middle was a man.

This was a tall man. He looked young, possibly in his late twenties. He had dirty blonde hair which fell down over one side of his face. Only one of his startlingly bright hazel eyes were visible. This mans name was Nicholi Dimitri, and he was clearly in charge of whatever went on here.

Nicholi began to pace up and down the length of the table, looking at each of the markers on it with what appeared to be great interest. Every so often he would stop, look at one of the markers, shake his head, and then remove it from the map. On the other hand, he would stop, examine a point on the map, decide that the location was significant, and add a marker. Each marker was one of two colours, white or red.

He continued this for another few minutes before finally deciding that he was satisfied with what he had done. After this he walked swiftly to the other end of the room, where there was a long row of very complicated looking computers, most of which had someone sitting operating them.

Nicholi approached the man on the far most computer. "Anything new?" His voice had a thick Russian accent. He peered at the screen which was decked out with what looked like old news headlines.

"Nothing that we haven't heard before." The man replied. "Seems that the theft of the Crown Jewels is still making headlines." He zoomed in on the article. "As expected they didn't catch who was really behind it."

"Good." Nicholi replied. "It will make it all the more easier when we go to take it from them."

His phone then started to ring. Nicholi walked away from the man at the computer back over to the map table and answered it.

"Yes?" Whoever it was he was talking to was obviously an underling. "Fantastic, we are going to need that if we are to stand any chance, how do you know for sure it is that?" There was a short pause. "Fantastic, though I do think it was rather reckless of her to summon it, the consequences could have been severe. Who has it now?" Again there was a pause. "Unlike her to give it up, but it should make it easier to take. Anyway, good work, any news on where the others are? No…OK then, report back in five hours, we will move out soon."

He hung up the phone and looked back at the map table. He located a city in Hampshire, England, where there was currently a flashing red light. The light changed from flashing to solid. A smile crept onto Nicholi's face. His gaze then went to a flashing red light in Paris, he looked at it for a few seconds before taking out his phone and calling somebody.

"It's Nicholi, he wants to know if you are absolutely certain about this one." There was a pause. "If you are wrong he will more than likely kill you, you understand? Let's hope you confidence is not misplaced. It will be our next target on the way to Britain." He hung up without another word, and as he had done with the other light, he made the one in Paris go solid too.

He examined the map for a few more moments before walking out of the cathedral sized room into a corridor. Wherever he was going he was walking with a purpose. After a few minutes navigating through the labyrinthine passages he ended up in what was unmistakably a prison. Most of the cells in there were vacant, except for one. In the last cell on the left in the dark prison, there was a man who looked extremely weak and pale, obviously he had been in here a long time.

"I'm afraid he has decided your judgement spy, and you are to be executed if you do not co-operate." Nicholi then raised his hand and a feint yellow glow emanated from it.

The man in the cell looked as though he was trying to resist, which he succeeded. "I would rather die."

"Then die you shall, goodbye." Nicholi raised his hand again, but instead of turning yellow as it had done previously, dagger like shards of ice erupted from it. He was hit though the heart, the head and the stomach. A look of utter pain was on his face, and after a brief second, he fell to the floor, blood covering the cell.

A guard nearby winced at the sight of it. It was quite gruesome to look at. "Clear this up."

Nicholi then walked away back to the map room, where there were now three more people gathered round the huge table in the middle. They did not look as though they were of a high status, like Nicholi. They looked more like a convenience, or a fist for hire.

"We are leaving in three hours, is the jet ready?" He asked them, they all grunted which he took for a yes. "Good, make sure you are all prepared, with a little bit of luck we should be able to get into Paris undetected."

A little bit of luck was something which Nicholi was never short on. He subconsciously touched his forearm, within lay a purple orb which raised his luck considerably. The only side effect to this was a feeling of overconfidence, which could be fought, but was difficult to ignore.

"Three hours, meet at the airport." They all walked off, leaving Nicholi to his thoughts.

"_It will be much easier when we manage to reunite all of the Turks so we don't have to keep using these knuckle heads." _A voice inside his head said to him.

"_Agreed, but for now they are the best we can do. It is better than trying to do the whole operation ourselves after all." _His eyes were fixed on the solid red light in Paris. _"It could be tricky to get hold of."_

"_Hardly." _The voice replied, _"Well, it won't be nearly as difficult as trying to steal one of the crown jewels, and we can breathe a sigh of relief there because that has already been done for us."_

"_Assuming that is that you can manage to get the materia off of the thief?"_

"_Assuming? It will be simple, we will outnumber them all by a huge margin. We have nothing to worry about as long as we plan everything properly." _The voice in his head then fell unusually silent.

Nicholi's eyes then fell back on Great Britain to the solid blue light. "Yes…" He muttered aloud, "Assuming."

He navigated his way through the maze like passages of this huge building once more, before ending up in what must have been his quarters. The room was fairly large, yet plain in what it contained. A single bed, a mirror, drawers and what must have been a large assortment of rifles and shotguns.

Nicholi walked over to the mirror and looked into it. Instead of seeing his own reflection staring back at him however, the figure of a tall slim man with pure blonde hair and blue eyes. He had an eye patch over his right eye.

"So the Louvre. With any luck we will be able to slip in and act like a tourist." This mans voice was not Russian like Nicholi's. "Hopefully we will be able to take the materia without anybody noticing."

"We have to find it first." Nicholi said, walking away from the mirror and taking down two rifles from the wall. He attached them to his belt before turning back to address the man. "How do you propose we do that? It could be disguised like the one in the Tower."

"I will know it when I see it." He replied. "As far as our intelligence knows, we are the only people that know it is there, so we shouldn't be pushed for time. We will be able to search and search until we find it."

"You hope." Nicholi replied simply, now taking some ammunition out of the drawer next to his bed and loading the gun, he made sure the safety was kept on however. "Still no idea what the materia is."

"We assume it is a summon, however like Alexander, we won't be able to tell what it is until we have summoned it…" With that Nicholi left the room, being sure to lock it behind him, and set off for the airport.

"Rubbish!" Came Alex's voice from the other end of the phone. "Come on, can't you get out of going? It's been ages since we have actually spent an entire weekend just hanging out."

"No can do." Josh replied, walking around his room and packing a small travel bag at the same time, "Besides, I want to go, I haven't seen her in ages and she is kind of cool."

"Oh don't give me that." Alex whined down the phone, "I'm not saying she isn't cool, I'm just saying that the only reason you are going is cause your parents are making you, you do anything they ask!"

Josh didn't answer, he was too busy fighting with the zip trying to do up his bag. After about thirty seconds of trying to force the far to packed bag closed, he managed it, though he thought he heard an ominous ripping sound in the process. He did not dare investigate it however.

"I am going because I want to and that's that." Josh said, though he knew that this was only half true. "I'm only gone for the weekend, and besides we see each other at college all the time!"

Now that he thought about it however, he had notice that himself and Alex had started to drift apart. This was slightly unnerving, they had been friends for so long, and the thought of drifting apart had, as far as he knew, never occurred to either of them. But then again, Josh doubted very much that Alex would understand what he was going through at the moment, so perhaps this odd drifting was something quite good for them, a blessing in disguise.

"Meh I guess so." Alex replied. "Well be online and stuff, at least she has internet… I'm going to be bored out of my brains this weekend."

"Will do." He said, then he heard a car horn beep outside which must have been his parents asking him to hurry up. "Anyways I've got to go, I'll text you or something when I'm there!"

The car journey was extremely dull and uneventful. Josh even found himself thinking that having Sephiroth talk to him would make things a bit more bearable. It did not matter too much however, perhaps this peace and quiet was just what he needed to break away from all the strange goings on that had occurred in his life recently.

A fatigue inducing car ride late, Josh and his parents found themselves outside a nice little town house, painted a nice neutral cream colour. It had been a good two years since he had seen his mum's sister, who just so happened to be his god-mother too. It was slightly upsetting, but she had been moving around so much recently that going to visit her had just proved impossible.

Now however he found himself walking up a nice gravel path towards an old looking wood front door, his parents had to go and get fuel for the car, so Josh was left on his own at this point.

He knocked on the door, and a few seconds later his god mother Liz Edwards opened the door. Josh knew that his aunt was in her mid-forties, however for her age she looked very well. She was shorter than him, had dark brown hair with blonde highlights which enhanced it considerably, and puppy brown eyes.

"Long time no see Joshy!" She boomed upon seeing him, pulling him into a rib-crushing hug, Josh couldn't help but smile widely.

"It's great to see you again Auntie Liz." For as long as he could remember she had always been his favourite relative, and possibly the only person besides Alex whom he felt he could confide in.

"_I think I may vomit…" _Came a voice in Josh's head. He completely ignored this however, this was time for him to spend with his family, and nobody was going to take that away from him for the world.

He went inside, and was then attacked by a small fluffy thing. "This must be Suki!"

"That's her my darling." She said, closing the door behind her as Josh attempted to make his way into the living room.

The small fluffy thing which was trying to destroy Josh's leg happened to be a Labrador puppy. He had heard a lot about how she was planning to get one whenever she had phoned, and could not wait to meet it. Josh loved dogs.

"Now my lover." She spoke with a thick townie accent, "I need you to read through this for me, it's the article I was telling you about for the local paper."

She went over to her bureau and took out several sheets of paper. "I hope they are paying you well for this." Josh said to her as he took the article from her, "As long as it isn't anything else about those damn jewels, that's turning into old news."

"Quite agree my darling." She started laughing quietly, "But that story did make me a pretty penny, was so close to getting it into one of the mainstream tabloids, but the competition was too good."

Josh had always admired how his god mother had managed to make a living out of freelance journalism. It was her passion, and even though she was not what you would call well off, she was happy and doing what she enjoyed most. It took him a few minutes to read through the article.

"You have a couple of typos." He explained, pointing them out, "But other than that it's great, you know I can hardly find any flaws with your work."

This particular article had been about a new exhibition opening at the Louvre in France, however Josh could not say he was a huge art lover.

"I don't know, I think I'm licking their asses a bit much in the second paragraph…a critic never got anywhere by being nice." She took a pen and scribbled out something from her printed article.

"Considering yourself a critic now are you?" Josh joked.

"I would be better than some of the shit ones you see in the broadsheets nowadays." He couldn't help but laugh at how blunt and to the point she was. "Anyways where are my manners, do you want a drink my lover?"

Just as she offered this the puppy jumped up onto the sofa which he was sitting on and started licking his face to death. "That would be great thanks!" He barely managed to get the words out through the continued licking from Suki the Labrador.

His aunt went into the kitchen to make him a cup of tea, and Josh just about managed to wrestle off the Labrador.

"_This new exhibit…It can't be just coincidence…maybe that is where the materia is." _Josh knew that Sephiroth had to be speaking directly to him, he had been hiding his thoughts so effectively it would be impossible for him to just let this slip by accident.

"'_The' materia?" _Josh replied, noticing how he had not pluralised it. _"You think some particular type of materia is here?"_

"_It's a possibility, worth a look at least." _Josh could not help but wonder what this materia was, and Sephiroth had evidently noticed this. _"I suppose I won't be able to keep this from you for too much longer. I'm looking for the black materia. Only one of them exists, unlike the others where there are duplicates. It's not quite as bad as it sounds…"_

Josh was worried about what 'not quite as bad' was supposed to mean. _"…What does it do?"_

"_It is just a very powerful form of magic, nothing more." _Josh did not buy this one bit. _"Trust me, if you got this materia you would be more powerful than anyone on the planet."_

"_Define powerful."_

"_Powerful enough to make sure that nobody else messes with you, so to speak." _He considered this, however there was something about his voice which Josh did not like. Perhaps it was because they were constantly in each other's minds, but he was sure that Sephiroth was lying.

"_What does it really do." _Sephiroth had obviously noticed that he was not going to be able to lie to Josh like he could conceal information.

"_It doesn't matter too much, it is just a powerful form of magic. Putting its function aside anyway, we need to locate it before anyone else can."_

Josh did not like the sound of this one bit. At that very moment however, his aunt came back into the room carrying two cups of tea. It was amazing that she did not spill any with the dog bouncing around at her feet.

"There you go my darling…" She said, putting the tea down on the table in front of him, "…milk and two sugars."

"Thank you Liz." Josh beamed at her, then thought it would be best to finish up his conversation with Sephiroth.

"_We aren't looking for it and that is that. It sounds like bad news." _Josh heard nothing more from him after that.

The afternoon mostly consisted of catching up on the previous years with his aunt. By the time his parents got back to the house, nobody entering the room would be able to get a word in.

"So tomorrow I think we should all go down to the beach, Suki loves it down there." Liz said to them all. It was getting very late by this point, and she and Josh's parents had drank rather a lot, they seemed to be getting sleepy.

"Well…" Josh's mum said, "…I think we need to get some sleep then if we are going to be up early to go to the beach."

They all agreed, and Liz showed them all where they were staying. Josh's room was small, but cosy. The walls were painted a nice navy blue colour, and the single bed by the window was extremely comfortable. It did not take him long to drift off to sleep.

_He was standing in what looked like a void. All he could see was black, never ending black. Then, quite suddenly out of the darkness, none other than Sephiroth appeared._

"_You are dreaming, just so you are aware…" He said to Josh, walking right up to him. It was extremely odd speaking face to face with him._

"_That's kind of obvious…" Josh replied, then noticed that his sarcasm would probably annoy Sephiroth greatly._

"_No, it isn't, you wouldn't have realised until you woke up if I hadn't have told you. Now, we are going to search for the black materia as soon as you get back from your aunts, is that clear?"_

_Josh looked at him and let out a small laugh. "No we aren't, end of story."_

"_Then I will have to persuade you…" Sephiroth said. Without warning he was right in front of Josh, he punched him violently in the face, which hurt badly._

_Josh swore loudly. "This is a dream, what the hell?" He felt blood running out of his nose at an alarming rate._

"_Doesn't matter, it's still going to hurt!" He punched him in the stomach, then the chest, then face again. "And I could do this all night until you wake up, all night, every night, until you agree."_

_Josh laughed at him. So what if he was hurt in a dream, in no time at all he would wake up and everything would be fine, he wouldn't even remember the pain. "You have no power, only threats here."_

_Sephiroth hit him again, then paused. "You are right…" He agreed, much to Josh's surprise. "Then perhaps I shall have to persuade you another way." Sephiroth then drew his sword and stabbed Josh through the heart._

Josh woke with a start, covered in cold sweat. He thought back to the dream that he had just had, it felt so real. Did that all really happen? Much to his distress, something then confirmed that it wasn't just a dream.

"_I shall persuade you here then, and I can guarantee you that you will not disobey after this…"_

An extremely odd feeling then took over Josh. He could not feel anything, it was as though his entire body had become numb, yet he could still see, he could still hear. He watched, as he started to unwillingly get up and out of bed and head towards his bedroom door…

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AN- Please review! We need to know what you are thinking. Next chapter soon!

R&A


	13. Silent Mourning

First of all a HUGE appology for how long this has taken. Rest assured we aim to have the entire story written by the end of this month, and will be uploading chapters much much much more frequently. Well worth the wait we hope, enjoy chapter 13!

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**-Chapter Thirteen-**

**Silent Mourning**

Two long weeks had passed since that dreadful night back at Liz's house. What had happened there was a mystery to all but one person, a terrible mystery that people doubted would ever be solved. Josh however knew everything.

Nobody could explain how that morning, Elizabeth Edwards had been found the next morning, stone cold dead. Josh's parents, who had found the body, called the police instantly, and the investigation had begun. However, after an autopsy had been carried out on the body, there was no cause of death visible. In fact, from what the result of the autopsy showed, the usually bubbly and happy woman should be alive and well. No heart problems, no poison in the blood, no gunshot wounds, stab wounds, nothing at all. It was this, and only this, that had prevented Josh and his family being taken into custody.

This post mortem result seemed to satisfy everyone who had heard that it was simply a death by natural causes. This of course, as Josh knew, was not the case. It was he who had killed Liz, he who had killed his own god mother, his aunt. However, it was not to his will that this had happened, just as Sephiroth had taken control and forced Josh to break his wrist by punching a wall, he had gone one step further and taken control of Josh's body completely.

Of course this was an unnecessary move, if Sephiroth had really wanted her dead for the purposes of disposing her, he would have done it himself in his own body. No, the real motive for this method was to emotionally cripple Josh. Liz had to be one of the people he cared about most on the earth, and he had forced him to watch as he took her life from her.

It was not as though Josh had not pleaded with Sephiroth to stop, he had agreed to go searching for the black materia almost the second he sussed what Sephiroth was planning to make him do. This did not seem to be enough for him however, obviously he wanted to ensure that he would never question him again, and would obey without question. He had explained the second after he had caused Josh to kill her, that should he question him again, it would be his parents, and then his friends who he forced him to kill.

The reasoning behind this untraceable death was a little perk of Sephiroth's. He had an ability which he referred to as a 'Death Blow', a move which only worked upon those who were completely defenceless, but ensured death every time.

Everyone who had known Liz in life were now gathered at her funeral. Josh did not think he was going to be able to stomach going, knowing what he did. On numerous occasions he had considered turning himself in to the authorities, however every time he had done so, Sephiroth had informed him that he would just kill his captors in order to escape.

No, there really was no way out for Josh now, and the shock realisation of what he had done was now right in front of him in a coffin. It was all just getting too much for him. He had never liked funerals to begin with, but then again who did? However this terrible knowledge that he possessed just made it ten times more unbearable.

The service was short and simple, a look back at Liz's life and her achievements, including readings from more some of her more witty newspaper articles, a few hymns, and a song to open and close the ceremony with. To Josh's relief, Alex had agreed to come along to the funeral as well. Even though she had not known her very well, she had agreed to come along simply to be there for her best friend.

It was not until the wake however that he and Alex were able to talk properly with each other.

"How are you feeling…?" She asked tentatively, Josh's eyes still looked a little bloodshot.

"Would you prefer a lie or the truth?" Josh asked, his face remaining emotionless.

Alex did not really know what to say to him. She hugged her best friend, feeling him shake with sadness as she did so. "The truth is always best mate…but seriously there was nothing you could do, it was just her time…"

What did Alex know though, she had no idea. "No it wasn't…" Josh replied.

Again Alex found herself lost for words. She would normally have asked him to explain this kind of statement, but as Josh was so distraught she knew he was not going to make sense.

"Alex…" Josh began, as they broke apart from the hug, "…Alex, I think I'm starting to lose it you know?"

"_Watch your mouth…" _Sephiroth warned.

She looked at him and gave a weak smile. "Josh, you have just lost your god mother, you aren't going to be all with it straight away. You aren't superman."

Alex was slightly worried now, this light attempt at humour, feeble though it may have been, would normally have merited a small laugh in return from her best friend. However Josh's face remained a pained yet emotionless blank.

"No, I mean really losing it, I don't know what is wrong with me, I don't know if I can explain…"

Again the voice in his head warned him. _"And explain you won't, as you know what will happen if you do."_

"Just…" Alex began, trying to think how to best phrase her sentence," …just try to relax for now. And I know you probably will have heard this advice before, but try not to think about it too much, like I said, there was nothing you could have done for her. I'm going to go get a drink quickly ok? Do you want anything?"

Josh shook his head, looking down at the floor as he did so. She walked off towards the table which had all the food and drinks laid out on it. Most of the people who had attended the funeral were over there, which was why Josh had decided to find a seat as far from it as possible.

"_All beginning to hit home now is it?" _Sephiroth asked him with an evil chuckle.

For the first time that Josh could remember, he did not answer, and his mind was so blank from the shock that Sephiroth could not find an answer in his mind. This seemed to annoy him greatly, he was not used to being ignored.

"_Did you hear me Josh?" _Josh was fairly certain this was a rhetorical question, but decided to answer none the less.

"_Yes, what is your point?" _He replied, trying to make his mind sound as bitter as possible in his answer.

"_Oh dear, we will have to work on your manners 'Joshy'." _The deliberate use of the nickname which his aunt had used for him enraged Josh, and silent tears began to fall down his face. He clenched his fist so tightly that his fingernails were starting to cut into his skin.

"Josh?" Alex asked upon her return, looking concerned. "What's up?" She thought this was a rather stupid question to ask at a wake.

"Nothing…" He replied, unclenching his fist. Josh had clenched it so hard he had actually drawn blood from the palm of his hand, "…just the whole atmosphere is getting to me." Fortunately for him, Alex did not notice the damage that he had done to his hand.

Alex tried her best to make small talk with Josh, even though it was a generally unsuccessful endeavour. "Do you want me to leave you alone?" She asked eventually, after several half-hearted responses from her friend.

"No!" Josh replied, so quickly that it gave Alex a start. "No… I'm sorry I'm not talking much but really…I appreciate you being here, I don't know how I would have got through today if you weren't…"

He then looked over at his parents. His father did not look too bad, but then again he was too busy consoling Josh's mother. As Liz had been her sister, it was only to be expected that his mum would take it a lot worse than his dad.

Josh and his parents stayed until everyone else except Alex had left. The room they were in now being deserted but for four people now heightened Josh's feeling of being alone.

"Well…" His dad said to him and Alex, walking over to them, "…we had best make a move, it's a long journey back."

They left and got in the car. Nobody said a word during the trip back. This gave Alex time to talk to Tifa about a sudden idea that had just occurred to her.

"_Tifa, do you think there is a possibility Josh is a host?" _She asked her. Earlier in the day when Josh had said that he 'Thought he was starting to lose it' reminded her of when she had found out Shaun was a host.

"_I'm almost positive that he isn't. I can't sense a thing, and believe me, when he said the losing it comment it made me start to wonder too." _Tifa then paused, thinking how best to word her next sentence, _"But no matter how much I tried to sense another one of us inside him, I couldn't. No I think he is just going through a lot of emotional trauma at the moment, try to just forget about what he said for now." _

Perhaps she was right. Alex was not sure how she would react if she were to lose one of her loved ones like he had. Tifa did not say another word to Alex after this, and she in turn did not attempt to make any conversation. It was an uncomfortable car journey.

Both Alex and Josh seemed glad when they pulled up back in their hometown.

"Do you want me to stay with you for a bit or would you rather be alone?" Alex asked him tentatively.

He thought for a moment. "I think I would rather be alone for now. I will probably give you a call later." Alex nodded and started to walk off, "Hey Alex?"

She stopped and looked round at him. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming along today…I really can't explain how much I appreciate it." She looked at him, it was heart-wrenching to see just how broken this had made Josh.

"No problem." Alex gave him a weak smile and headed off home.

She walked with a purpose, wanting to get home as quickly as possible. It was when she was passing the all too familiar alleyway a few streets away from her house however, that she heard somebody whisper…

"Hey Alex!" She wheeled around and looked down the gloomy alleyway, where she saw a figure in a blue suit.

She walked a few paces down the alleyway before noticing that it was none other than. "Reeve!"

"Keep your voice down!" He warned her. "You never know who might be watching."

Alex looked a little puzzled at this remark. "What do you mean? Who could possibly be watching us?"

"Who do you think?" Reeve asked, obviously not expecting an answer. "His eyes and ears are everywhere, Rufus is a very resourceful man…and a very lucky man."

"Why do you say lucky?" She inquired.

"Well…" Reeve began, looking around nervously, "…there was an explosion and he was at the heart of it. He is lucky to still be alive."

"An explosion?" Alex seemed to be full of questions. "How did he survive? What kind of explosion?"

"How he survived…I have no idea. The explosion itself was cause by a very powerful monster however, it should have killed him, yet he lives. This alone is reason to use caution when it regards Rufus Shinra."

Alex shivered, then remember what she was going to ask. "What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid someone might see you?"

He chuckled. "I doubt anybody except our kind would notice me for who I am." Reeve then seemed to scan the rooftops, as though afraid somebody would be watching from them. "Anyway, I really need to talk to Tifa. I don't mean to be rude, but could you let her take over for a few minutes."

"She can hear you now, can't I just speak for her?" Alex asked.

"Don't you think that is rude?" He frowned at her.

"Ok…how do I let her take over?" This was never something that she had willingly done, it had always happened on a whim as far as she was aware.

"I don't really know how to explain it really…just sort of let her." Alex looked at him quizzically, but nevertheless simply attempted to simply let Tifa take over.

It was easier than expected, and since she was trying to let her take over it wasn't as painful a process as it usually was. Within thirty seconds, Tifa and Reeve were standing face to face.

"What is it Reeve?" Tifa asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well its Rufus…" He replied, so quietly that she almost had to lip read him, "…he is on the move. We know he was situated in northern Europe, he is heading south but we don't know exactly where."

"Your sources letting you down?" Tifa joked. "How do you know he is heading south?"

"He tells very few people his exact motives, Rufus likes to play everything as close to the chest as possible. All we know is that there was a plane bound from Russia to France a couple of weeks ago, whether he is intending to stay there is anyone's guess…" He began to walk down the alley, Tifa followed. "…We are almost certain his main base of operations is in Russia, but for all we know he could be constantly on the move."

"So how will we know what he is doing?" Tifa sounded a little worried.

"Our man lost track of him in France, we don't know where he is now but we are doing everything we can to find him… that I promise you…"

Two weeks previous. Paris, France. Nicholi had touched down in the city no more than two hours ago, yet already his eyes were set on the Louvre. Fortunately for him it was peak time, so blending in with all the tourists who would undoubtedly be there would not be a problem at all. Not wanting to hang around, he made his way to the art gallery as fast as he possibly could with his henchmen.

Not wanting to attract attention he ordered his men to stay outside by the entrance.

"_Find a safe place for us to switch over, I would rather look for this with my own eyes Nicholi…" _Rufus instructed.

He made his way to the loos, waited until they were completely empty, and then found an empty cubical. In a matter of moments, Rufus Shinra was striding around the hallways of the Louvre gallery.

"_Any idea where to start?" _Nicholi asked. It was clear that the two of them got on very well.

"_Haven't a clue." _Rufus replied confidently. It was clear that he had a plan. _"I don't intend to do much of the looking. We can find out if there is anything new through somebody else."_

He walked from exhibit to exhibit, all the time examining them closely for anything which was out of the ordinary. This was far from easy, as much of the art was extremely expressive, and therefore quite abstract. After around thirty minutes however, Rufus found somebody who obviously worked for the gallery. The man just seemed to have finished giving a guided tour of the gallery.

"_Him, we can manipulate him…" _Rufus said. He subtly did so, the man had a blank expression on his face for a brief moment before walking off with a seemingly determined look on his face.

Rufus followed him at a slight distance. They walked for a few moments before coming to a fairly extravagant looking statue. He could not quite tell what it was, however he did think it looked very impressive. Rufus walked up to the red cordon which surrounded the statue, and then read the plaque.

'_The Elements: Earth, Water, Wind and Fire united as one. Artist Unknown.'_

He looked back up at the statue, and could half see what it meant. There were shapes which seemed to be waves crashing on a shore, as for the wind and the fire, he could not spot this anywhere. The statue was within reach. It towered over Rufus, it must have been almost twelve feet tall.

Confidently, he stretched out a hand to touch the stone, then wished he hadn't. The stone was white hot, as though it had just come out of a furnace. Some nearby tourists were watching him as he did this, then went to touch it themselves. To Rufus's great surprise, they were able to touch the stone seemingly without feeling any pain.

Wondering if this meant it was fine to touch now, he tried again, however took his hand away immediately. It was still white hot.

"_I think you can finish your search…" _Nicholi said quietly.

"_Yes, but where is the actual orb?" _Rufus began to circle the statue, looking at it with great interest. From what he could see, it was all stone, nothing glass-like was attached to it in any way shape or form.

"_Inside perhaps?" _Nicholi suggested.

Rufus agreed with him, there was no other place that it could be. Breaking it open right this second however would not be a clever move. _"I think I can hazard an educated guess to which one this is."_

He took out his phone and pressed speed-dial one. "I need you to close the Louvre, do whatever it takes, shut down everything then meet me in the entrance."

Rufus strode over to a nearby bench and took a seat, evidently waiting for something. Within five minutes, a man dressed in blue was walking around advising everybody to leave, though the reason for why was unclear. He got up and walked into the entrance hall.

Standing in the middle were four people, one of which was the curator, two looked like security, and the other was the man in blue who had been going round.

"I don't care who you work for." The curator said to the man, "I demand an explanation for this."

Rufus raised a hand, and the familiar yellow glow emanated from it. One of the members of security threw a punch at the curator, knocking him to the floor, whereas the man in blue kicked the other guard in the head, knocking him out too.

The man walked over to where Rufus was standing. "Mr President." He addressed him.

"Tseng." Rufus replied simply. "Security is all down I trust?"

"On all but the Mona Lisa." Tseng said. "What is it you have found sir?"

"Follow me." Rufus walked back in the direction of the statue, pointing it out to Tseng. "I suspect it is inside."

"What makes you so sure?" Tseng asked, walking up to the statue to examine it more closely.

"Touch it." Rufus instructed.

Tseng obliged, and just as Rufus had done before him, he took his hand away very quickly as though it had been burned. As the president had done, Tseng also walked over to the plaque and read the inscription it bore.

"Three guesses what this is…" He said with a sarcastic tone, Rufus walked up to stand alongside him, "…any thoughts on how we are going to break it open sir?"

Rufus fired several shards of ice at the statue, to no surprise however, they evaporated on touch. He then extracted a handgun from his coat and fired an entire clip at the statue. They did not even leave a mark.

"Allow me sir." Tseng then raised his hand. There was a flash and a very loud bang, from his fingertips erupted what appeared to be a bolt of lightning. Much to his annoyance however, this also did nothing.

Rufus thought for a second, then looked at Tseng . "Can you electrify the bullets as I fire?" He reloaded his gun and took aim at the statue.

Tseng stood right alongside him and put his hand carefully alongside the gun. "On three?"

"Yes…" Replied Rufus, "…one…two…"

On three, Rufus pulled the trigger and Tseng produced another bolt of lightning. There was suddenly a huge tremor which shook the floor on which they stood. There was a crack in the statue, and then quite suddenly, it burst open.

With what must have been the force of a hurricane, both Tseng and Rufus were swept off of their feet and slammed into the back wall. When they both hit the floor and looked up they were faced with an incredible sight. Hovering in the centre of where the statue had stood was a glowing red orb, clearly whatever power it harnessed was awake.

With what seemed like great difficulty, Rufus took aim at the orb, it took him several attempts, but eventually one of the bullets found its target. The orb fell to the floor and rolled harmlessly up against the back wall, and the gale force winds subsided.

"That was unexpected…" Tseng voiced, getting to his feet and brushing down his suit.

Rufus however had stridden the long distance of the room, knelt down, and picked up the orb. "We got what we came for here, next stop is England…"

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A/N: Again a huge appology, we cannot stress how sorry we are and appreciate your patience greatly. Next chapter wil be uploaded wednesday. Review please, constuctive criticism appreciated!

R&A


	14. Taken

Oh yeah we are back on the ball with our uploading...noticed some kind of update has caused the dash scene change's to vanish, will have to upload chapters one through to thirteen again with the new X changes. Other than that we hope you enjoy chapter fourteen! P.S Thank you kindly for the reviews, they really are appreciated!

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**-Chapter Fourteen-**

**Taken**

Tseng and Rufus had made a swift retreat from the Louvre. It would not take long for the authorities to work out that something was wrong. It was still mid-afternoon, so the two of them found blending in with the crowd incredibly easy.

"You have a jet ready to take us to England I take it sir?" Tseng asked as they walked down the crowded streets of Paris.

"No." Rufus replied, "We go by public transport, I have a feeling we are being watched."

This news seemed to take Tseng by surprise. "Who could possibly be watching us?" He asked, "I thought it was we who were keeping an eye on them?"

"I don't know." Rufus replied simply, now quickening his pace.

"But you have your suspicions no doubt?" Tseng inquired, he knew his boss all too well.

"Of course, but I don't know for sure." He was heading in the direction of the main train station in Paris.

Tseng seemed to be able to read something in his voice. "You suspect an insider sir?"

Rufus slowed his pace slightly and turned to look at Tseng. "It's a possibility, but let us hope that it is not the case." He resumed his normal walking pace as he headed towards the station.

It was not long before they arrived at their destination, Rufus was drawing a little attention due to his eye patch, but he and Tseng tried as best they could to act normal.

"I know you said public transport sir, but surely air travel would be more desirable?" Tseng asked after getting the tickets.

"No, this gives us more time to shake whoever is following us, and more time to find out who it is." Rufus walked over to the train which was already waiting at the platform.

They boarded and found the most disused carriage on the train. After taking a seat Rufus extracted the materia which they had managed to obtain from the Louvre and started to examine it.

"It's odd…" He began, holding it up to eye level, "…I have never known a materia to act like this before." He placed it on the table in front of him. Tseng then reached out and took it and as Rufus had just done, started examining it.

"It's like it was being used but poorly." Tseng voiced, tossing the orb between one hand and the other, "Why didn't the materia that the others stole from the tower act in the same way?"

"How do you know it didn't?" Rufus asked, as far as he knew, all he had done was watch as they escaped from the tower.

"I was watching on the monitors in the security room." Tseng replied, replacing the orb back on the table. "They had a much easier time stealing that materia than they know. They believe it was all through the ninja's manipulation skills, they would not have made it within thirty feet of the building if it weren't for me." He looked extremely angry.

"That will make it all the more sweet when we steal it back from them." The train then kicked into life and departed the station. Rufus picked the orb up and pocketed it to stop it rolling off the table from the motion of the train.

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, during which Rufus seemed to examine every inch of the carriage in which they were sat. Whatever it was he was searching for however, he seemed to be unsuccessful.

He looked back over at Tseng. "Any luck finding the others?"

"Very little progress when it comes to that I'm afraid sir." He replied, looking solemn. "I think I have a possible location for Reno, if I find him finding Rude should be easy. As for Elena, nothing at all on her, not a whisper as to her whereabouts."

"Hmm." Rufus seemed to be thinking. "No matter, I have a feeling they will turn up sooner or later." He stared out of the window.

An hour passed. Wherever it was the train was heading it was obviously a long way from Paris. Rufus all of a sudden did something very odd. Making sure nobody was watching, he extracted the manipulate materia from his arm and placed it on the table in front of Tseng.

"I want you to use that on the driver, make sure he keeps the train heading towards our destination." Rufus then got to his feet and started to walk towards the back of the carriage, Tseng stopped him however.

"What are you going to do?" He asked, looking slightly worried.

"I'm going to separate the carriages, if whoever is following us is on the train, there is a high chance we will lose them." He whispered back. A couple of people at nearby seats seemed to be intrigued by the pair of them. "Five minutes, then come back here so I know it is safe to separate them."

Without another word Tseng walked towards the front carriage, whereas Rufus walked towards the back of theirs. His instinct told him that whoever it was that was tailing them was not situated in their carriage, so he was confident in this tactic.

After a few minutes Tseng returned, and Rufus made his way into the small area which connected the carriages. He looked through into the next carriage, noticing that it was considerably fuller than the last, then looked back into the one he had just come from. Tseng seemed to have persuaded the few people who were in there to move into the next carriage.

Making sure that nobody was going to walk through, Rufus took careful aim at the point in the floor beneath which he knew the couplings would lay. His hand glowed blue for a brief second, and one huge ice dagger erupted from it. It pierced easily through the metal walkway and straight onto the couplings, which separated at once due to the damage.

Rufus caught a brief glimpse of the shocked faces from the carriage which he had just uncoupled, before closing the doors of his own. He turned round to see Tseng standing almost right behind him.

"Nicely done." He complimented, "The driver isn't going to stop at any more stations except the one we want, we should be at our destination in no time."

"Fantastic." Rufus replied, walking back to his seat as though nothing had happened, "London here we come…"

X

"It is a crude location I know, but will it do for a basic place of operations?" Tseng asked as he and Rufus entered a small room decked out with what looked like nothing but computers.

Rufus walked in behind Tseng and looked around the room. It was nowhere near as big as his main base of operations, but anything was better than nothing.

"How far are we from the known hosts?" He asked Tseng, walking straight over to a computer and turning it on.

"One hour at most, I chose this location because of how close it is to London however." Tseng answered, starting to pace around the room.

"Good enough I suppose…" Rufus muttered to himself. He extracted a disk from his inner coat pocket and inserted it into the drive, in no time at all a replica of the map which was back at his base appeared on the screen, "…will make us more difficult to find."

"Sir," Tseng began, looking over at his boss, "how exactly are we going to take the materia from them?"

Rufus looked away from the screen. "Do use your brains." He then turned back and looked at the map. Zooming in on the point which they were currently at, he added a green marker. "This should make the rest of them show themselves as well…"

"What do you mean?" Tseng asked, walking over and looking at the screen, he scanned it and noticed that most of the blue lights were blinking. "Ah, I see." Tseng then noticed another marker, neither blue, red nor green. It was a flashing black marker, currently situated in London. "What is that?"

"Well…" Began Rufus, looking at Tseng very seriously, "…I'm almost certain that Sephiroth is here too. I've been doing some research…" He looking back at the screen and zoomed in on the black marker, "…and at a best guess, I would say that he is currently in London."

Tseng looked a little uneasy. "So this is why you want so much materia? You think that the more materia we control the greater a chance we will have at defeating him."

Rufus nodded. "Knowing him however, he probably possesses more materia than you and I put together. I have a feeling he hasn't got hold of any extremely powerful materia yet however, he would have used it if he had…"

"You mean summons?"

"Yes…and no…" Rufus replied, Tseng looked confused. "Summons would be an obvious target for Sephiroth, but we have to remember what materia he was hell bent on getting back in our world."

A look of realisation suddenly dawned on Tseng's face. "You think that is here too sir?"

"I really hope it is not, but we have to be prepared for the worst. If it is here, we will find it before he does and keep it from him. God knows what will happen if he gets hold of it…" He then fell silent clearly thinking, "…however, materia seems to function slightly different in this world. Who knows what it might do if activated."

"Who is to say it isn't activated now, like Kjata?" Tseng voiced, Rufus did not seem fazed by this at all though.

"It would have been headline news. If it is active we will know, that much I am certain of." He got up and walked over to a small table. He removed all of the materia in his forearm and placed them in front of him. There were four, all of different colours: Red, green, purple and yellow. He picked the purple one back up at once and replaced it in his arm.

"Materia starting to weaken you sir?" Tseng asked, he too knew the drained feeling that feel upon a materia user after wearing it for too long.

"Slightly." Rufus replied, unfazed. "Now about stealing back this materia…"

"If I could make a suggestion on that sir…" Tseng moved over to the computer which was displaying the map, "Why not take down two birds with one stone…?"

Rufus looked at him intrigued. "Go on?"

"Well," Tseng began as he zoomed in on the map to one of the solid blue markers, "Flush out all the rest of Cloud and his gang by kidnapping one…"

"You think that will work?" He strode the length of the small room and looked at the marker Tseng had zoomed in upon.

"Even if it doesn't, we can still 'Liberate' whoever we choose of their materia, a win win situation as such."

"You see Tseng…" Rufus began, a smile now creeping onto his face, "…this is why you are in charge of the Turks…"

X

Present day, London.

Tifa and Shaun found themselves in the all too familiar apartment of Savina Grisham, AKA Yuffie. The two of them had decided to make a trip back there after having a stroke of luck gathering materia.

"So…!" Yuffie said, looking excited, "…What have you found?"

"Well," Tifa began, producing not one but two new orbs from her forearm. "This one Alex found, has come in pretty useful." She tossed a purple orb over to Yuffie who caught it.

"Speed?" She asked, examining it closely.

"How did you know?" Tifa was surprised.

"Lucky guess!" Yuffie smiled and threw it back to Tifa who replaced it in her arm. "And the magic?" She asked, looking at the green orb in Tifa's hands.

"Can't say we have had to use this yet, thankfully. It's fire." She threw it over to Yuffie to examine.

"Where did you find them?" She asked, throwing that orb back as well.

"You see now that's the thing." Tifa replied, looking slightly confused. "We just happened to come across them in our hosts lives, it's like nobody else is aware that they are even there."

"Like with Alexander in the sceptre…" Yuffie was thinking out loud. "We should tell Reeve this when we see him, he is on his way over."

"Well Red and I…" Shaun began, seated in the comfortable looking armchair in the corner of the room, "…have found one pretty awesome piece of materia!" He got up and walked into the centre of the room, with a look of discomfort on his face a green orb surfaced on his forearm.

"Oooh! More magic!" Yuffie exclaimed, giggling madly. "Which is it?"

"I can show you…" The orb sank beneath the surface of his skin, "…try and hit me in the next ten seconds." He got to his feet.

"Oh god…" Tifa rolled her eyes, yet still a smile crept onto her face, "…can I bet all my materia that she can't?"

"Sounds like fun to me!" Yuffie replied. "Tifa, say three two one go!"

"Right…" Yuffie moved a little closer to Shaun, a wicked smile on her face. "Three, two, one…go!"

The following site was extremely amusing. For ten seconds, Shaun seemed to dodge every single punch Yuffie threw at him with ease. It looked impressive, yet by the end Yuffie looked ready to have a schoolgirl tantrum.

"How the hell…!" She exclaimed. "Pretty cool though, but still how the…!"

"Much different to how it works in our world, wouldn't you say?" Tifa chirped in.

"It's time magic." Shaun explained. "It increases the frame rate my brain can process actions, so I go matrix mode baby!"

"How long can you keep it sustained?" Yuffie asked.

"Takes practice, best I've managed is fifteen seconds." He looked a little disappointed in himself. "Which I might add is about a minute in super slow mode."

"Can you do that to other people?" Yuffie asked.

"Can't say we've tried that yet…" Shaun replied, looking slightly excited. "Could try it?"

"You should let Red do this one, he can use materia with more ease." Tifa suggested.

Shaun agreed, and within seconds the flame coloured beast which was Red XIII stood before them. "Ok so who am I trying this on?"

"Oh ooooh, me me me!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping up and down with one hand raised.

Red rolled his eyes. "Ok this might feel a little weird, its nothing like you're used to…"

There was a green glow from one of Red's paws, and then something very peculiar happened. A jet of gold light shot from the aura straight into Yuffie's eyes. The beam of light continued to remain solid as Yuffie, apparently in the slowed down state Shaun had described, proceeded to walk around the room in amazement. Fifteen seconds later, the beam broke, and Yuffie shook her head slightly.

"That…was…epic!" She beamed, looking at the both of them. "That materia is going to come in very handy!"

There was a sudden knock at the door. Yuffie went to answer it, and as expected Reeve entered the room. "Afternoon all." They all greeted him in return. "Bad news, Rufus is in England."

They all looked at him in shock. "How do you know!" Tifa asked, walking over to him.

"My sources have never let me down thus far." He sat down on the sofa opposite the armchair. "So far as we can tell he arrived here a little under a fortnight ago. The fact that he is yet to make a move is most disturbing…yet relieving."

"Any idea why he is here Reeve?" Red asked.

"Too many possibilities, most likely materia gathering, but then there is always the possibility of Sephiroth…you got any whisky here Yuffie?" He looked over at her.

"Little early to be drinking?" She inquired.

"Not on this occasion it isn't…" Reeve was handed a small glass of whisky, "…why are you all here anyway?"

"Materia sharing." Tifa explained, to which Yuffie smiled.

"I have only found one so far you will all be disappointed to know…" Reeve said, setting his glass down and exposing his forearm, "Only as useful as its sister materia…" He produced a green orb from his arm.

"Even more magic!" Yuffie exclaimed again, looking like a toddler at Christmas. "What is it?"

"Nothing to get that excited about I can assure you, its destruct, and so far as I can tell it works exactly the same way here as it did back in our world. Only of use if someone has the barrier materia…which…" He paused for a minute.

"Which what?" Tifa looked slightly concerned.

"Which 'He' does…"

"Sephiroth?"

"Correctumundo…" He replaced the orb in his arm and took another sip of his drink, "unfortunately I was yet to find this materia at the time…"

"The time?" Red asked.

"It doesn't matter, what happened is irrelevant. The point is the amount of intelligence we have on him is poor."

The silence which filled the room was horrible. It was as though they were all starting to realise the seriousness of the threat which they were posed with, Sephiroth and Rufus Shinra, two formidable foes none of them wanted to meet in this world.

"Let's look on the bright side guys!" Yuffie exclaimed, trying to make the atmosphere a little more cheery. "Us four are all together and Sephiroth is all on his lonesome!"

Tifa couldn't help but chuckle. "Except for his host of course." She pointed out. "Whoever that may be…"

"Indeed." Reeve agreed, downing the rest of his drink, "If we can find him before he finds us that would be preferable… gives us a real edge…"

Red suddenly shivered and within moments, Shaun was laying on the floor where he once was. "Tell Alex that we should really be making a move soon, the trip home takes forever from here!"

Tifa closed her eyes and let Alex take over. "Agreed, give us a call if anything develops won't you?"

"Did you even need to ask?" Reeve chuckled. "You two take care of yourselves."

"You too Reeve." Alex and Shaun said together.

X

After the long trip home Shaun was just about ready to collapse. He walked over to his mirror and peered into it, now used to not seeing his own reflection gazing back at him.

"Well that went well…" Red said to him, walking over to his bed in the reflection and jumping onto it, "…going to have one more go with the time magic before you collapse?"

"_I think that would make me collapse…" _Shaun replied in his mind, Red chuckled. The relationship between the two of them had lost all of the awkwardness which it had started with. Reeve's suggestion of developing a good rapport seemed to have paid off.

"Well goodnight Shaun…" Red curled up on the bed and dozed off almost instantly, so Shaun did not see the need to reply.

It was a few hours later that it happened… In the pitch darkness of the room, the window was slowly prized open. Shaun was completely out of it, it would take an extremely careless move from whoever this was to wake him now.

The dark haired man stepped cautiously into the teenagers room. He proceeded over to the mirror and peered into it. Sure enough he saw a flame red creature laying on the bed in the reflection.

"_A fool proof way of checking it was him Tseng?" _Isaac, Tseng's host, asked him in his thick Arabic accent.

"_Of course…" _Tseng replied. He then walked silently over to the bed, withdrawing from his inner pocket a syringe filled with a clear liquid.

He hovered the needle a fraction of an inch away from a vein in the sleeping teenagers neck, he would need to execute this perfectly in order to ensure he did not make a sound.

Tseng pierced the needle into the vein, and as expected Shaun woke with a small yelp. He quickly covered his mouth as he injected the clear liquid, and within seconds, Shaun's eyes drooped and he was unconscious once more.

"_Not even a fight?" _Isaac asked curiously.

"_Must have been too disorientated…makes our life easier…Right, let's get him back to the president…" _

* * *

A/N: So if you are interested in the progress we really have had a sudden burst of creativity, the story is almost finished! Chapters will be uploaded twice a week every Wednesday and Saturday. Reviews as always are greatly recieved, let us know if we are good bad or the things in between! Until saturday guys,

R&A


	15. Hide and Seek

First and foremost we did not forget to upload yesterday, we attempted to upload but nothing seemed to be updating on fanfiction so we decided to take it down and re-upload it today. That aside, would you like the good news or the great news? We aren't sure which is which so you can decide. First and foremost, **we have finished writing this story! **That's right, this novel length baby of ours is finished, so don't expect to be left hangin (not to say this is the final chapter, there is much much more to come!) Secondly, our next fic is in the making, which will be our attempt at the **horror **genre, and will be on **Final Fantasy VIII **(8 for those who hate numerals lol). This fic is currently only in the planning stage but already looks to be promising =), we will keep you posted on that.

Anyways excited ramblings out the way, enjoy chapter fifteen!

* * *

**-Chapter Fifteen- Hide and Seek**

Even though much time had passed since the funeral, the death of Josh's Aunt was still having a profound effect on him. His college work had been getting steadily worse, grades slipping from what used to be above average to average, then average to below average. Teachers had suggested counselling to him, which he refused point blank. He was sitting in the Café with Alex on his free period, looking deeply into the hot chocolate which he hadn't touched.

"Mate you really are starting to scare me you know?" Alex said to him, taking a long swig of her drink. "Maybe you should listen to people, counselling might actually help you!" She pulled out her phone for what must have been the umpteenth time in their conversation and checked it.

"What do you keep looking at that damn thing for?" Josh asked. His mood with Alex had changed significantly since the funeral, it was as if he thought distancing himself from her would deter Sephiroth from using her as a threat.

"No need to get short with me…" Alex replied, "…I'm just waiting for Shaun to call is all, haven't heard from him today."

Josh looked at her curiously. "Are you two dating or something, you do spend an awful lot of time together…" He took a sip of his drink for the first time.

Alex couldn't help but laugh. "Of course not, what do you take me for!" She downed the rest of her drink and yet again she checked her phone. "Still nothing…"

"I'm sure he hasn't died or anything…" Josh joked, rolling his eyes at her.

"_What the hell does he know…" _Tifa said in exasperation. Alex couldn't help but privately agree with her, the whole situation was a lot more complex than her best friend knew.

"_He's probably just bunking off so he can have fun with the time magic…nothing to worry about…right?" _Even in her head the excuse sounded poor, a last little ray of hope yet to be dimmed.

"_Do be serious… We should call the others and see if they know anything, Shaun isn't answering his phone so what else is there to do?" _

Alex agreed with her. As soon as she was clear of Josh she would get straight on the phone to Reeve and Yuffie and see if they knew anything. "What class you got next?"

"Drama…ugh…" Josh replied, drinking the rest of his now luke-warm hot chocolate, "…suppose I should be heading off to that in a minute. See you soon Alex." He took another swift look at her phone which she had got out yet again, before getting up and heading off in the direction of the drama block.

"_Right let's go somewhere private and call Yuffie, see if she knows anything…" _Tifa suggested. Without replying Alex got straight up and strode off towards the college gates. There would be fewer people hanging about on the streets outside college at this time of day.

"_You don't think we are possibly blowing this out of proportion?" _Alex asked Tifa and she withdrew her phone and started searching for Savina's number.

"_Good thing you put that under the host number, people might think you had gone a little mad otherwise… And no, there is no reason for us to not be concerned, we must look out for each other after all." _Alex sort of agreed with her, and began to call Savina.

It rang a few times then, "Savina Grisham speaking…"

"It's Alex. We may have a problem, no sign of Shaun, can't get hold of him. Not with you is he?"

"Nope, haven't seen him since you both left last night. Have you tried Charles?"

"Reeve, gonna try him in a minute. Let me know if you hear anything."

"Likewise, keep me posted." Savina requested before hanging up the phone.

"_Well that was useless…straight onto Reeve then…"_

Alex was already scrolling down her contacts looking for him. Before she got there however, she was startled by her phone ringing and none other than Charles Daniels calling her.

"Hello?" She answered.

"I assume I was just about to get a call from you?" Reeve was obviously in control at the moment.

"Well yes but how…"

"You and I are sharing the same concern, I am keeping a rather watchful eye on the lot of you at the moment, obviously not close enough. Shaun never left his house for college this morning, and when I checked he wasn't at home."

The news that they were all being carefully watched was not very welcome news, though in a case like this it was by all means helpful. "His parents haven't said anything though."

"They must have assumed he left for college early. I'm not far from you at the moment, is there anywhere we can meet?"

Alex thought for a moment. "Town centre by the fountain, I'll be there in fifteen minutes…"

"Make it ten, we need to be as swift as possible if anything has happened…"

X

"You know…" Alex began as Reeve got within earshot of her, "…it is kind of creepy that you are watching us, you could have at least told us."

"Ok…I'm watching you, happy now?" He smiled slightly. "Not the point at the moment anyway. We need to find out if anything has happened to Shaun…"

"Perhaps start at his house then?" Alex suggested.

"Already have, no sign of a struggle or anything. All of his college stuff is there still, no clue whatsoever…"

His phone then started to ring, he answered it instantly. "Anything?" There was a pause, then a look of annoyance crossed his face and he hung up. "Dammit, well something has to be up if he can't find him either… Let's walk…"

Alex and Reeve began to walk round town centre discussing any and all possibilities, each as unlikely as the next. It was as they were approaching the cathedral that Reeve's phone began to ring once more. He looked at it for a second.

"Who the…?" He answered it, changing his voice to almost perfectly match his hosts. "Charles Daniels speaking may I ask whose calling?"

He went silent for a long time, during which Alex could only hear a muffled voice on the other end of the phone. She could not tell if the voice was male or female, and made a mental note to ask Reeve this when she got the chance. His facial expression changed from one of confusion to amazement quicker than a set of traffic lights go red.

Reeve hung up the phone. "Well that's an unexpected twist…The Shinra have him apparently…" He was keeping remarkably calm.

"What!" Alex almost yelled, looking at him in shock. "How do you know?"

"An anonymous tip. It's the best we have to go on, even gave us the location of their base of operations…"

"Could be a trap?" Alex pointed out.

"Obviously but at this point what other choice do we have?" He dialled a number on his phone.

It rang for a few moments, "Savina, put Yuffie on would you?" A few seconds silence, "Yuffie, I need you and Savina to get on the next train to Woking immediately, we think we have found him…a tip off…that's what Alex said…at the station, we'll go from there…ASAP. See you soon." He hung up.

Without further conversation they began to walk in the direction of the train station. "Exactly who do you think that was on the phone?" Alex inquired.

Reeve did not answer at once, he seemed to be pondering his answer. "I can't even pretend to have a guess at that, I really do have no idea…"

"Male or female?"

"I don't know, they were using a voice mask…" Their pace quickened towards the station, "If we hurry we should be able to get there by mid-afternoon at the latest, Yuffie should be there soon, she is far closer than us."

Upon reaching the station Reeve walked straight up to the ticket booth and bought them two first class tickets, Alex could not say that she had ever gone first class before. There were ten long painful minutes before their train was due, during which Reeve seemed to be texting whomever he had called first, his phone suddenly rang again.

"I'm going to need you on standby in case things get ugly, we have no idea what force we will be dealing with until we get there…Let's hope so…" He hung up.

_Platform two for the 14:05 south west trains service to Woking, calling at…_

"That's it let's go…" Reeve said, walking towards the first class carriage of the train.

As expected when they got on it was completely deserted, which was what they were hoping for. The first class carriage looked far more comfortable than standard class, more comfortable seats and thankfully no listeners in. They chose seats right in the middle of the carriage.

"You are going to need to let Tifa take over when we get there but for now just make sure she is listening carefully." Reeve began very seriously. "According to this source, whoever they are, Shaun has been taken to their base in Woking. An odd location for them to choose but that's beside the point. Rufus himself is there along with Tseng and some other lackeys we have never heard of…"

"_Ask him if he knows why they took him." _Tifa said to Alex.

"Why did they take him?" She asked.

"Best guess is they are getting more information. Wouldn't like to think what is happening to him right now…"

X

The room was dark, lit only by one solitary light. In the middle of the room was a steel chair which was riveted to the floor. Bound to the chair in chains was none other than Shaun, wearing nothing but his underwear, currently unconscious.

Through the one door in and out of the room strode none other than Rufus Shinra, followed by Tseng. "Not too much trouble getting him I hope?" Rufus asked.

"Easy as ABC." He replied, walking slowly over to him.

"Well shall we begin, wake him up…" Rufus instructed.

Tseng raised his hand, it glowed green, and what looked like green mist erupted from his hand straight into Shaun's eyes. He stirred slightly, then eventually, his eyes opened. He looked up at them both, apparently in too much shock to speak.

"Hello Shaun…" Rufus began, grabbing another chair and sitting opposite him, "…do you know who I am?" Shaun made a sound which sounded like a fish being squished. "Well allow me to introduce myself, Rufus Shinra, head of Shinra Inc."

Shaun continued to look between him and Tseng. "No doubt that beast is filling you in?" Tseng asked, Shaun still said nothing.

"Doesn't talk much does he, why did you choose this one again?" Rufus asked Tseng.

"This one should have the Alexander materia…" Tseng replied, Shaun's eyes widened slightly in shock.

"_Shaun, they cannot extract the materia from you unless you co-operate, do not under any circumstances give it to them…" _Red sounded worried.

"All we want, Shaun…" Rufus began, standing up from his chair and proceeding to grab Shaun's bound hands in front of him, "…is for you to hand it over." He pressed a finger to his right forearm. Much to Rufus' annoyance, the orb did not surface.

"Right…" Shaun said, speaking for the first time, "…and you will just let me stroll merrily on my way if I give it over will you?"

"Got a mouth on him hasn't he sir?" Tseng remarked, "Shall I 'persuade' him?"

Rufus dropped the teenagers bound hands and turned to Tseng, nodded, and then turned away. "Manipulate won't work on hosts anyway, not at this late stage. This way is far more entertaining…"

Shaun started to tremble slightly and Tseng walked up to stand next to the steel chair. "Last chance?" Shaun still said nothing.

Tseng pressed a finger to the chair, his hand glowed green for a second, and then an electric current passed straight into the chair and all through Shaun's body. He could not scream, the electric current was forcing his mouth closed. The pain was unbearable, but then just as suddenly as it started, it had stopped. He began gasping for air.

"Right…" Rufus said, walking back over to the shaking form sitting before him. "Let's try this again…" He grabbed his right arm and pressed a finger to it. Again, nothing happened.

"Why not just kill him sir and be done?" Tseng asked, Shaun looked up at him horrified.

"Because you fool, if he dies, the materia is destroyed." Rufus dropped Shaun's hands again. "I need to check to see if my suspicions are true, you know where to find me if you make a breakthrough…"

He turned and strode out of the room.

"Well…" Tseng said to Shaun, "…at least you know you aren't going to die, yet…but just how much of this do you think you can take?" He punched him hard in the stomach.

"As much as is needed…" He replied, then suddenly, the beastly form of Red XIII was chained in his place, except on the floor as oppose to the chair.

"And we can just change from one to another when it all gets too much, so you have quite a job on your hands…" Red taunted him, earning him a hard kick in the face. Blood poured from his mouth and he growled in anger.

"We have all the time in the world mongrel…" He electrified the chains once more.

X

"Savina!" Reeve called. The brunette woman looked over at him. "We can't waste any time, have you got us transport?"

"What do you think?" Savina asked mockingly, holding up a pair of keys to what looked like an Aston. "Was very generous of the owner to just walk up to me and give me his keys…"

Without further ado the three of them walked to what must have been the plushest looking car they had ever seen. "Can we keep it?" Savina asked jokingly.

"Well he did give it to you…" Alex replied, and then allowed Tifa to take over.

"I call shotgun…" She said.

Reeve got in the driver's side, Savina in the back and Tifa in the passenger side. For such a business like man Reeve seemed to be an extremely skilled driver. As though reading their minds he then said,

"My host has a fondness for sports cars and track driving, ergo so do I…" They sped round the town as fast as traffic would permit.

Rufus re-entered the dark room to see a very blooded up Shaun sitting in the steel chair. "No progress at all?"

"Only that he has made contact with other parasites…he seems confident that they will do something…" Tseng then laughed, but Rufus then beckoned him to follow.

Outside the dark room and out of earshot Rufus said, "His confidence is not misplaced. They are on their way, I was right there is a rat…question is who?"

Tseng looked a little startled. "Who told you they were on their way?"

"Reno…" Rufus said, "He has made contact since we were here."

"Could be a double bluff?" Tseng suggested.

"Maybe…" Rufus was thinking, then he extracted the manipulate materia from his arm and handed it to Tseng, "…assemble as good a team you can, five maybe six should do, we only need enough to make our retreat if things go badly."

"We can always use the boy as a bargaining chip sir?" Tseng pointed out.

"I will not risk the materia…let's hope they don't know that."

Tseng then walked away, and Rufus proceeded into the darkened room. Red XIII was now lying on the floor, looking a little worse for wear.

"Enough games beast…" Rufus said, producing an ice dagger in his hands, "…the materia…" Red simply growled at him. Rufus stabbed the dagger straight through one of his paws, causing him to howl in pain. "The materia, NOW!"

Suddenly in the distance there was an almighty BANG. Rufus whirled around looking in the direction of the disturbance. Abandoning the beast he ran through the door and up into the main mission room which had been established. Whatever was going on must have been taking place on the stairwell of the building they were in.

He ran out the front door of the apartment and looked down the middle of the huge winding staircase. The sight which met him was not a welcome one. Flashing across the staircase were jets of lightning followed by huge jets of flames. Every so often there was a loud cry of pain where someone had been hit.

"_Not like you to miss out on the opportunity for a fight…" _The thick Russian voice of Nicholi said to Rufus.

Without further hesitation he ran down the staircase to join the fray. This took considerable time due to the height of the building. When he was roughly two floors above them however, he had the enemy in his sight. Three of his foes stood before him, the ninja, Tifa, and his very own old employee Reeve. This made his choice of who to aim for very easy.

"Don't you understand that I fired you Reeve!" He shouted, firing three ice daggers in his direction. Tifa melted them with a jet of flames before they reached him.

"Forgot my P45 sir!" Reeve shouted, withdrawing a gun and firing it straight at Rufus. He ducked and took cover just in time. The sound of sirens was growing ever louder as time passed.

"Sir!" Tseng shouted, ducking out of the way of several throwing stars. "I'll cover you, seal the door!"

Without hesitation, Tseng proceeded to work wonders with his lightning magic as Rufus stood and created what must have been a six foot deep barrier of ice across the entrance to the building.

Reeve fired another shot at the president, and this time he was not so lucky. It hit Rufus square in the chest. He coughed blood and staggered up against a wall. Tseng was quick on the scene, sending the green healing mist his way almost instantly. Rufus was ready for battle again straight away.

"Dammit…" Reeve cursed, ducking behind cover and reloading, "…of all the materia they could have found…"

"Could be worse…" Tifa replied, rolling out of cover and sending a blast of fire so powerful it knocked two of the unknown guards up against the back wall, this caused the remaining guards, Tseng and Rufus to retreat up a few floors.

There was a loud banging noise from the main entrance. The authorities had obviously made it to the building.

"…it's worse…" Yuffie exclaimed.

They ran after them, wanting to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the authorities. On their way however they found more of Rufus' ice barriers, which took Tifa a considerable amount of time to melt. Time they had reached the second one, Reeve was suddenly struck by an idea.

"I wonder…" He raised his hand, there was a green glow, and with the sound of a cannon blast, the barrier shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, "…works differently in this world after all."

Getting to the top of the staircase was extremely easy now. In no time they were at what was unmistakably their base on the top floor. The door was shut, the three of them would have to be extremely cautious now.

"I'll kick the door open you be ready to return fire…" Tifa said, "On three…one…two…three!" She kicked down the door.

To their surprise it was only the two unknown guards in the room which was revealed. The three of them made easy work of the two men, and in no time they found themselves in a room surrounded by high tech looking equipment.

"Very swish for a basic base…" Reeve voiced, looking around. There was only one exit from the room onto a hallway.

Wasting no time they made their way to the hall. It was too obvious which of the three doors they were now faced with to take. One was leaking a feint mist of what must have been an ice barrier on the other side.

They opened the door, and found that the barrier was completely see through, which was unusual for such a thick sheet of ice. On the other side of the barrier, bound in the middle of the room was Shaun, he looked as though he had been beaten to within an inch of his life.

"Try anything and the boy dies…" Rufus said, pointing an ice dagger to his throat.

"Now let's not be too unreasonable…" Reeve said, approaching the barrier, then he whispered to Yuffie "Check the other room get whatever information you can from the monitors."

She left, leaving Tifa and Reeve alone with Tseng and Rufus. "That will do you no good, all files are password encrypted." Rufus mocked.

Reeve retrieved his phone from his pocket and dialled a number. He held the phone to his ear. A moment later however, a ringtone sounded from within the barricaded room. A sudden look of realisation crossed Tifa and Reeve's face…

"Ah…" They said together.

From within the room came two jets of fire of such force it slammed both Rufus and Tseng up against the back wall. Then came a voice which sounded throughout the base.

_Self-Destruct in t-minus sixty seconds…_

Reeve destroyed the barrier and entered the room. A hooded figure ran to Shaun and fired no less than ten bullets into each of the chains binding him.

"Yuffie!" Reeve shouted, she ran back into the room. "What the hell did you do!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"Rufus has this place wired and ready to blow just for such an occasion…" The deep voice of the hooded figure said.

They all looked around the now illuminated room and saw both Tseng and Rufus had vanished. "Dammit where did they go!" Tifa exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter," The hooded man said, "We need to get out of here now, I'll take Shaun the rest of you run!"

The sound of footsteps running up the stairwell outside could now be heard. The authorities had got through the barrier.

"We're done for…" Reeve said, defeated…

"Oh grow up!" Yuffie shouted. "To the window and jump, trust me!"

Not wanting to argue Reeve, Tifa and Yuffie all ran out the room, Reeve shot out the nearest window with his gun, and as one, they jumped.

Seconds later, the apartment exploded in an eruption of flames. They were all screaming in free-fall from the two hundred foot high building. Then Yuffie extended her arm, it glowed red, and from it erupted a golden flame which shot to the ground.

From the earth burst a huge magnificent golden phoenix, it flew towards them, spread its wings and caught all three of them twenty feet before impact. The blow was amazingly softened, and then seconds later the phoenix vanished, leaving them all to free-fall another twenty feet onto hard concrete.

Without time to consider how harmed they were they bolted to the nearby Aston and miraculously, they made their escape.

How they had escaped the authorities, dumped the car and made their way back to London they never knew. Upon entering Yuffie's hideout however they found they weren't the first ones there. Laying on the sofa looking extremely worse for wear was Shaun, and kneeling by him was none other than,

"Vincent my good friend…" Reeve entered the room and strode over to him, "…sorry to keep you on standby for so long."

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A/N- As usual guys we can't thank you enough for the reviews, nice to know what you think xD. Not much more to say, next chapter will be up on wednesday as usual, until then!

R&A


	16. Revelations

There is precisely ten minutes of wednesday left at the time of uploading, so we are still on time, sorry for the late night upload! Enjoy the chapter guys.

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-Chapter Sixteen- Revelations

"You call what I have been doing 'Standby'. I really do hope your definition of active is miraculous." Vincent replied, getting to his feet and striding over to him. He and Reeve shook hands. "Not quite as simple as you thought that was going to be I bet?"

"Who ever said I thought it was going to be simple?" Reeve asked, a smile now creeping onto his face.

Yuffie and Tifa entered the room, the latter obviously enraged. "Why the hell didn't you tell us that you had Phoenix!"

"Oh sue me, I was saving it for a rainy day and I think today qualified!" She beamed and pretty much skipped into the main sitting room. "Don't tell me you are annoyed that I have it?"

"But where did you get it?" Tifa asked.

"A little bird laid an egg and it was inside, what does it matter? Point is I have it and it saved our lives right?"

"It matters a lot, we could determine where other materia is." Vincent said in his deep voice. "But that isn't the issue at the moment…" He looked back down at the beaten Shaun, "…does anyone have healing magic?"

The all in turn shook their heads. Vincent examined him closely, during which the rest of them were immersed in conversation.

"So do you think it is just those two who have found each other, Rufus and Tseng?" Tifa asked Reeve.

"I highly doubt it. You saw just how resourceful he was in there. He was using magic in this world in a way that isn't possible in ours. Why does it all act so differently here I wonder?" Reeve went and sat in the armchair in the corner of the room.

"Not as simple to use by all means, but we can wield it to more effect here." Tifa voiced. "Was there anything of use on the monitors?" She asked, now addressing Yuffie.

"Nothing that I could make heads or tails of. Just a load of blinking lights on a map, whenever I tried to investigate further it just said 'Access Denied, Password Required'." She looked a little disappointed, "There was one thing that stood out, there was a huge blinking black light in London, any ideas what that could mean?"

They all pondered this for a moment before admitting defeat.

"Again we can worry about that later." Vincent spoke again, now looking at all of them instead of Shaun. "He has fractures to his left arm, jaw, and right leg just below the knee, whatever magic they used on him has left him in quite a state of shock. From what I can tell Red is still alive, I've no reason to believe one can live without the other. The trauma they have gone through will leave them unable to change until they have recovered so…" He trailed off.

"Since when were you a medicine expert?" Tifa asked, to her surprise Reeve chuckled.

"There is much that you still need to know, and now I think is the time, wouldn't you say Vincent?"

"As good a time as any Reeve, I'm going to need some bandages to patch him up as best I can without healing magic. If only we could have snatched Tseng's…" He looked over at Yuffie, who was swiftly changing back into Savina.

"I'll see what I can do. I'll be as quick as I can." She swiftly left.

"We shouldn't begin until she is back, not in great detail anyway. I think my story is one you should all hear." Vincent said.

Tifa moved over to Shaun and allowed Alex to take control. "He looks a complete mess…"

"I'm sure he has looked better…" Vincent voiced, "…I don't believe we have been properly introduced. Vincent Valentine at your service ma'am." He extended his hand which Alex took.

"Name's Alex, nice to meetcha." She thought that he had an oddly impressive aura about him.

A good fifteen minutes passed without much being said. At last though, Savina strode back through the door, bandages acquired. "Hope I got enough." She threw what must have been enough to satisfy a hospital ward over to Vincent.

He picked them up and started patching Shaun up as best he could. By the end of which he did look a lot better, even if still terrible.

"So how do you know how to do all this?" Alex asked, obviously for Tifa.

Vincent looked over at her. "One of my hosts was a doctor. I learnt everything from him and kept the knowledge."

Savina had allowed Yuffie to take back over at this point. "One of your hosts…wait…you're how Reeve knew we could change hosts!" Things were starting to click into place.

"That's right." Chirped in Reeve. "He is the reason I know pretty much all of what I know, how many hosts have you had now Vincent?"

"I tend not to keep count…I would guess around twenty by now." They all looked at him in amazement. "I never stay in a host for too long, haven't found one I can establish a decent rapport with yet."

"So you just wipe their memory?" Alex asked. It wasn't so much a question as a statement.

"Don't have too much of a choice. It is a miracle we have all gone undetected for so long, if any of us were discovered we would be experimented on in a lab, not something any of us want I'm sure." He then walked over to the TV set and switched it on, to nobody's surprise, the explosion of the apartment building was headline news.

"How are we going to cover this up?" Reeve asked, obviously he had been relying on Vincent for answers a lot.

"We can't, it doesn't look like anybody got any definitive proof of the phoenix though, which is lucky…"

They all read through the headline scrolling across the bottom of the screen several times. Seven people had died from the explosion and twenty three injured. Yuffie was the first to speak.

"Damn Rufus Shinra…why did he wire the damn place to blow!" She punched a nearby wall and then clutched her hand in pain.

"This isn't his world…" Vincent pointed out, "…I don't think he cares who he kills, he is hell bent on getting back to our world."

"So if you have gone through twenty different hosts…" Alex said, obviously trying to get the conversation back onto a lighter subject, "…and you keep the knowledge of each one every time. Isn't your head just about ready to burst?"

Vincent chuckled. "I only keep the relevant knowledge, I don't keep all of their past and present thoughts. For example, I can speak almost every language, give or take a few of the lesser known ones."

Everybody seemed impressed, Alex then suddenly let Tifa take back over. "You've been getting around a bit?"

"Across the world my dear Tifa…" He replied, his eyes still fixed on the TV screen, "…I dare say I'm not the only one, Rufus has travelled far and wide. I should know, I've been following him whenever possible."

"You see Vincent here is how I knew Rufus was in England. He is also how I knew about the commotion in the Louvre." Reeve got up as he said all of this and began to pace the room.

"Oh!" Yuffie shouted, making them all jump, "If you have been across the world then you must have loads of materia!"

"Sadly not…" Vincent answered, "…isn't as easy to come by here as it was in our world, though I do have a theory why."

"Go on…" Tifa prompted.

"I think it is still bleeding across into this world, piece by piece, little by little. The funny thing is it's like they can think for themselves, all of them have appeared in such convenient locations. That materia you stole from the tower for example, and the one in the Louvre, it's like they are testing us, making sure we are worthy to wield them." He looked at them all and noticed they were hanging on his every word. "Has nobody else thought this?"

"We didn't consider them thinking for themselves." Reeve said.

"It's merely a theory." Vincent brushed the comment aside, "Chances are I am completely wrong."

"So what materia do you have?" Yuffie asked.

Vincent exposed his forearm and produced three differently coloured orbs from it. One red, one yellow and one green. "You of course know I have fire magic, this one…" He pointed at the yellow, "…is sense and this one…" He pointed at the red, "…is Odin. Can't say I have used him very much but he has come in handy when I have."

"So how does sense work over here?" Yuffie asked, curiously.

"Interestingly, it's like you can sense other peoples intentions rather than their strengths and weaknesses, it isn't really one hundred per cent effective though, I have found it to be flawed sometimes. I'm almost certain that it worked on Rufus though, he seems to be gathering as much materia as possible."

"I already told them that Vincent." Reeve cut in.

"Apologies…" Vincent said, "…how about Sephiroth's intentions, these are merely a guess but an educated one at that."

"You think you know?" Reeve asked.

"Shouldn't we all? What was it he was after back in our world and would stop at nothing to get? What is it we spent all our time trying to prevent him from getting only to fail?" He looked around, there was a sudden look of realisation on everybody's face. "The black materia. It has to be here too, or on its way between worlds. He must be looking for it, the night I saw him he was researching landmarks."

"You spotted him?" Tifa asked.

"Took a shot at him as well, hit him I will have you know, once…Wasn't enough though, he has barrier magic and he uses it well, almost killed me by reflecting a bullet straight back at me. Didn't think it was possible, was nearly killed." He pulled down the neck of his shirt to reveal a scar at the base of his neck.

"Brilliant…" Yuffie sighed, "…a magic expert in this world just like he was in ours, and we thought Shinra were the problem?" The report was still looping on the news channel.

"So what do we do? We can't just let history repeat itself. If he goes after the black materia here the world is done for." Tifa looked at the floor as she spoke.

"I'm still not sure that is our priority Tifa." Vincent voiced, "The gravity of this whole situation is still far beyond any of us. Divided we fall, united we conquer, we must find the rest of the parasites before we can even think of taking on Sephiroth or Shinra head on."

"Hey wait just a minute…" Yuffie interrupted, "…it's not like we did terrible against Rufus and Tseng!"

"They are only a fraction of the Shinra corporation. There are at least a hundred of them! You think that your manipulate is the only one in existence? Look at myself and Tifa, we have both found fire magic. Rufus is homing in on the materia which matters most to him and shelling it out to those who can use it best, his Turks…" Yuffie was entranced by his every word, "…Let's see, Tseng, Rude, Rufus, Elena and Reno. Each capable of controlling twenty people at a time at least by now, and always changing who they control. Before long they will have an army."

"This is still all guess work though!" Reeve cut in. "You have no way of knowing for certain just how many there are under the Shinra's control."

"No, but we must expect the worst." Vincent retaliated. "If they don't have that many then great, but until we know precise figures let's assume the worst, ok?"

Reeve didn't reply.

"The black materia…" Tifa persisted, "…is the greatest threat. If you don't have any possible locations on our allies then we must focus our sights on finding it. Any possible locations?"

"For our allies, no. For the black materia, several." Vincent replied simply, "Each of them likely and extremely far away from here."

"Well name some, we have to start our search with all haste!" She pressed.

"If you insist…we begin our search when Shaun is at least fit to morph again though, agreed?" Tifa nodded at him, "Right, possible locations… Obviously powerful materia is emerging at landmarks and secure locations, so I have looked at some of the world's oldest and greatest landmarks. The Great Wall of China almost certainly has some kind of materia there, the pyramids of Egypt without a doubt will have something. Stonehenge is an interesting one yet my search there yielded no results, I could continue for ages…"

"So which do you think we should try first?" Tifa asked.

"The great wall, it runs for miles and miles, but if it's there we will know, I am almost certain of it."

"Wait wait…" Reeve cut in again, "…you want us to search the Great Wall of China for something the size of a large marble?" Vincent nodded at him. "…Vincent have you completely lost your mind from all this host hopping?"

"Pretty sure I haven't. You seemed happy to take my advice up to now? Why the change of heart?"

"Who said I had a change of heart? I'm merely speculating at the size of the task ahead." Reeve walked over to the window and looked out. "How long until Shaun is fit?"

"About a month, but we don't have that much time. We should find some healing magic as soon as possible, that is our priority."

"Oh can we stop changing our priorities and pick one guys!" Yuffie whined. "Find allies, find black materia, find healing… Pick one!"

"We can't do the first two without the last. So we search, if we are lucky it may just reveal itself to us." Vincent did not however sound hopeful.

There was a silence during which they all watched the TV report on the disaster through again. Fortunately there was still no mention on the phoenix, something about this must have crossed Vincent's mind.

"So where did you find the Phoenix materia?" He asked Yuffie, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Hyde park here in London." She replied. "Believe it or not, it was flying…"

"Beg your pardon?" Vincent asked.

"Flying you know, flap flap, swoosh swoosh." She made a mocking wing motion. "Nobody seemed to notice it except me and Savina so we snatched it out of the air."

"Don't tell me you summoned it in a 'remote' location like you did with Alexander?" Yuffie looked at the floor.

"You heard about that I guess?" She asked.

"As did Rufus Shinra." The atmosphere suddenly became very tense.

"You haven't explained your other theory yet Vincent…" Reeve said after a long silence, "…about why we are here."

"Hmmm…now that is an interesting thought…" He looked at them all with a crooked smile. "My only conclusion can be that it was a very powerful magic that brought us here, one beyond even Sephiroth's skill. You remember in our final battle our materia started to vanish I take it?"

They all nodded. "Was a little bit of a pain…" Yuffie agreed.

"Nobody can take your materia from you without your permission, it's impossible as Shaun demonstrated. There is no exception to the rule, which is why my only possible theory is that the planet knew we were going to lose against Sephiroth…"

"What?" Tifa looked shocked. "What do you mean the planet 'knew'?"

"When the planet is injured it gathers lifestream to heal itself right? My theory if you will, is that the planet used its last line of defence, something unheard of in the course of time. It knew it would not survive if Sephiroth won but couldn't just leave him unchallenged. So it pushed him and ourselves through into this world to beat him here, which leads me to believe that is our way home…" Again holding the room with his words Vincent gazed upon his companions shocked faces. "Honestly am I the only one who has been doing some deep thinking?"

"It would appear so…" Tifa replied, "…there is a flaw though. Why did it push Shinra through to this world too?"

"Because to all intent and purpose Shinra also wanted Sephiroth dead, perhaps the planet thought that they would help us." He couldn't help but laugh.

"Well if your theory holds any truth then the planet was very wrong." Yuffie said, speaking for the first time in a while. "What was it thinking? Us and the Shinra get on, pu-lease!"

"Neither here nor there at the moment." Vincent replied again. "That is just about all I know. We must begin our search for healing magic."

"Agreed, if we all pull together we should find it in no time right?" For once the optimism seemed genuine, and the search began…

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A/N: A shorter chapter than usual =). Hope you liked it guys, BIG chapter coming up saturday. Reviews and con-crit always appreciated, short n sweet or long and informative, we like them all! Until saturday.

R&A


	17. Battle of the Summons

Ok so apparently this story has had no hits at all in the last few days as oppose to the hundreds it has been getting every upload day... methinks there is something wrong with the live traffic function! Enjoy the chapter!

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-Chapter Seventeen- Battle of the Summons

With four of them focusing all of their efforts into finding healing magic, the task was simple. It was Yuffie who had found it two days into the search, conveniently enough in one of the hospitals in London. This added to their suspicions that the materia was indeed thinking for itself and choosing when and where it chose to appear very wisely. After healing Shaun back to perfect health within a matter of minutes, the companions saw it only fitting that he should be the one to keep the materia.

Vincent, Reeve, Yuffie, Red and Tifa were all on a first class train back towards Alex and Shaun's hometown. All but Reeve were letting their hosts take control at the present time. The carriage they were in at present was unoccupied.

Shaun rolled up his right sleeve and touched a finger to it, making the red orb which contained Alexander appear. He extracted it, and then held it out to the puzzled Savina. "Red and I want you to have this." He explained, placing it on the table in front of her, everybody looked at him in surprise.

"But why?" Savina said, not objecting and picking up the orb regardless. "We agreed when we took it that this was to be your materia."

"The Shinra seem to be very interested in it…" Shaun began, eyes closed as if talking to Red at the same time, "…after what the two of us went through, we have decided it is more trouble than it is worth."

"If that's how you feel I guess…" She extended her right arm and pierced the red orb into her skin.

"So what is the plan Reeve?" Alex asked him. He was currently staring absent minded out the window.

"Yourself and Shaun need to make your excuses. The two of you have been disappearing rather frequently, make up the best story you can and then…" He got out his phone and started dialling, "…I will have a jet waiting for us ready at the nearest airport to take us to China. We waste no more time…"

The man sitting apart from the group of four chucked. This man was well built and with short jet black hair and could only be Vincent's host. He did not say a word however, and within moments Vincent himself materialised. It was very odd not to see him in his usual attire.

"Do any of you know just how long this wall is?" He asked.

Shaun answered. "If I remember my history lessons right, around five and a half thousand miles."

"Precisely…" Vincent said, "…lucky for all of you I do have a plan."

"Ah ha ha!" Savina laughed, leaning on the table in despair. "Five thousand five hundred miles of wall, and you actually have a plan to find something this big?" She held up thumb and index finger.

"As a matter of fact I do. I will explain when we get on the plane."

_The next station is Salisbury. _Came the automated voice over the PA system.

"Well this is going to be fun…" Alex began, "…I still don't see what would have been wrong with a phonecall."

"Do you not want to see your family?" Reeve joked as he got up from his seat and walked towards the train doors.

"What if they don't buy the excuses?" Shaun asked, getting to his feet and following Reeve.

"Well…" Savina said, "…I can always make sure they believe you no matter what?" She patted her right hand. "Or would that be too crude?" She smiled as the train pulled into the station, and the five of them got off onto the platform.

X

"…A camping weekend?" Alex's mum said to her. "You really expect me to believe that you have had a craving for the outdoors and not washing properly for two days?"

"It's just a bit of fun with some friends from college mum…" Alex replied, packing a bag with essentials, "…you know I can look after myself."

"I don't doubt that." She laughed slightly. "No honey you know I have always let you get on and do your own thing, so you just take care of yourself…try not to drink too much…"

Alex zipped up her bag and turned to leave. She walked up to her mum and hugged her. "See you on Sunday." Her mum gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and watched as her daughter left.

Alex waited until she was well and truly out of sight of her mum before getting out her phone and dialling Savina's number. "Right I'm ready…He's with you already? Then let's get going." She hung up and waited, a couple of minutes passed before Savina pulled up in front of her in another plush looking car she had no doubt liberated.

"Ok direct me to the airport, Reeve and Vincent should be waiting for us." Without further hesitation they set off as fast as they could.

X

"Vincent…" Reeve began, "…how good is this plan of yours? We could be searching the wall our entire lives and find nothing."

"If it doesn't work then it isn't there, simple as that." The two of them were standing outside a small jet. Without further ado they spotted Savina, Alex and Shaun walking towards them. "Hope they are prepared for a long flight…"

Alex was the first to reach them. "Just how rich is your host Reeve?" She asked in amazement as she examined the jet.

"Money is not and has never been an object to him, which we should count ourselves lucky for." He replied simply.

The five companions boarded the jet. The interior was magnificent. Instead of the normal rows of seating which you saw on a normal plane, it was as though they had walked into a very expensive sitting room. There was even a TV mounted on what must have been the dividing wall between the cabin and the pilots.

"How long is the flight?" Shaun asked as the door was closed behind him.

"Roughly ten hours." Reeve replied. "Best make yourselves comfortable."

A few minutes later the jet roared into life and they were airborne. Vincent walked over to the TV and switched it on. To everyone's surprise, a map of china appeared on it. "Could I have all parasites present for this?"

Together, Savina Alex and Shaun let their respective parasites take control. All eyes were now on Vincent, everybody waiting to hear his master plan.

"Right… Reeve I said to you that if my plan didn't work then it wasn't there. Truth is I already know for fact that there is some kind of materia there. I tried to get it myself, but the protection it has given itself was far too sophisticated for me to handle alone at the time."

"Protection?" Tifa asked, "It's just bricks and mortar."

"Not entirely." Vincent replied grimly, he then picked up a small remote control and faced the screen. "The materia is located here up at the highest point of the wall in the mountains…" The map zoomed in and the region Vincent was referring to highlighted itself, "…within the wall at the point is what can only be described as a labyrinth." The map zoomed in further so that the top of the wall was almost filling the entire screen. "The entrance to the labyrinth is here." An area near a watchtower highlighted. "It only opens when it senses materia."

"Wait wait wait…" Yuffie said, "…that makes no sense. This world did not have materia before we got here."

"Precisely," Vincent agreed, "all the more reason for us to believe that the materia can think for itself. This one has created a labyrinth to protect itself, to test whoever wants to acquire it. It is this that leads me to believe it is the black materia."

The cabin went silent. All of them were gazing at the screen. "Please continue Vincent…" Reeve prompted.

"There is not much more to say. The labyrinth defeated me moments into it. I did not have the necessary strength to do it alone. I probably could now, but who knows what else is in there, there could be anything so we must be open minded."

"Open minded, good way of putting it…" Red said, curling up on the floor and yawning.

Vincent made the screen zoom out. "We will be touching down thirty miles north of the wall. We make our own way there, then it is a ten mile journey to the summit from the nearest point we can reach."

"We can all fly?" Yuffie suggested, raising her right arm without noticing.

"Too risky…" Vincent squashed the idea, "…no we use conventional methods to get to the wall and then hike to the summit. I suggest both ourselves and our hosts get some rest before we touch down in China." He turned off the monitor.

"Thank you Vincent." Reeve said. "If you don't mind me asking how did you find the entrance in the first place?"

"You'll see when we get there; you can tell the area has been magically tampered with literally miles away. Now we must rest…"

Ten long hours later they touched down in China in what looked like a privately owned airfield. The flight was very fatigue inducing, so the advice to rest was appreciated at this point.

"So the wall is thirty miles to the south of us…" Alex said. They had all resumed their host forms for the time being, "…and there should be a car waiting for us…"

"Over there!" Charles pointed and started walking in the direction of a Jeep. "Should be there in no time, Vincent?"

Vincent had chosen not to change back to his host. "To get to the best point we will need to drive off road. Since I am the only one who knows the way I think it best that I drive, agreed?"

Nobody objected. Vincent got in the driver's side, Charles rode shotgun, and the other three got in the back. They drove for a good twenty minutes before Vincent declared it safe for them to all change back. Reeve was chatting away to Vincent in the front, leaving the other three to talk in the back.

"So what do you think is going to be in this labyrinth?" Yuffie asked the other two. "If Vincent couldn't manage it."

"I say we just take his advice and try to keep an open mind. Trying to predict anything might be our downfall." Red replied, his voice trembling slightly from the cars movements.

More silence, until Tifa finally looked ahead and said, "There!" She pointed, "I can see the wall."

In the distance they saw it, the winding wall that was the Great Wall of China. Vincent stopped the car for a moment so they could all take in the task ahead.

"You see that mountain range over there?" He called to all of them, pointing. "At the summit is the highest point of the Great Wall. That's where the entrance to the labyrinth is."

They all gazed at the point to which he was pointing. The objective seemed all too real now, something which slightly worried all those present. After all, the only person who had any kind of idea what they might face was Vincent, and he wasn't saying anything.

He set the car back into motion and they were off. "We should be there in about ten minutes at this rate. Everyone make sure you are prepared, we leave what we don't need in the jeep." Vincent called to all of them.

In what seemed like no time at all they were at the edge of the wall. Scaling it was relatively easy, and before they knew it, they were facing the long winding wall towards the mountain summit.

"Ten miles…" Vincent began, "…best make haste."

It got steadily colder as their altitude grew, and the journey there was extremely uneventful. There was a nervous aura about the team however, even Vincent was not saying a word.

"Can you sense it?" Reeve asked, stopping suddenly. "Is this what you meant Vincent, I've had this odd feeling since we got on the wall…"

"That's it, the magic interference." Vincent confirmed. "I think it is linked to the wall, I was exactly one thousand miles east of it when I first sensed it."

It was as though the feeling was guiding them in the right direction, assuring them that they were heading the right way. At last however, they reached the highest point of the wall, atop which stood one of the many watchtowers.

"Something's wrong…" Vincent said, his pace quickening, "…oh god…" He broke into a run and then, quite suddenly, he vanished.

"Vincent!" Tifa shouted, running to the area of which he had just dematerialised. All of a sudden however he reappeared.

"That's the entrance there…" He pointed to a seemingly uninteresting section of the wall, "…look closely."

They all concentrated on where he was pointing. A few seconds later what appeared to be a staircase appears, leading down into the depths of the wall. They all approached it nervously.

"So what's wrong?" Yuffie asked, walking up to the top and peering down into the blackness.

"…It was already open." Vincent informed her, walking to stand beside her. "Someone is here, or was here…"

"So do we continue?" Red asked, also walking to the top of the staircase.

"We didn't come all this way for nothing." Vincent replied, starting to walk nervously down the stairs. The others followed.

They descended in what appeared to be a small antechamber. There was a huge stone gate in front of them which was currently open. Even though the room did not have any source of light, it was being illuminated from what must have been magic.

"This is the room that defeated me, that gate would not open no matter how hard I tried." Vincent informed them. "What lies beyond there is anyone's guess…"

He lead the way through the gates cautiously. It was strange, every following room at first seemed pitch dark, though upon entering it became perfectly well lit. The room they were now standing in had an ominously tiled floor, several of which were glowing blue, others red.

"If I might take a guess Vincent…" Reeve said, standing at the edge of the tiles, "This must have been a puzzle of sorts, but it has been solved already. Best guess is use the blue tiles…" He looked down at the nearest blue tile and took a step onto it. Nothing happened.

It was somewhat lucky, but then again this must have meant whoever was here previously had snatched the materia. Room after room of puzzles and booby traps came their way, all of which posed no threat to them whatsoever.

At last they reached a closed oak door twice the size of a normal man, it was slightly ajar, light spilling out of the open crack. Vincent stretched out a hand and pushed the door open.

They had reached the last room of the trials. The room was circular, with ornate carvings round its circumference. In the middle was a pedestal, which was raised on some steps. At the pedestal however stood a man, his back turned to them. In his right hand was a red orb.

Whoever it was didn't seem to notice that they had company. He rolled down his left sleeve and pushed the orb into his arm. None of them knew what to do, whether this was friend of foe was anyone's guess at the moment. Then however, their questions were answered.

The figure turned round and looked at them all, seemingly unsurprised. They raised their hands and lowered their hood.

There standing before them, was none other than…

"Sephiroth…" Vincent said in an undertone, then not wasting anytime he drew his gun and fired shot after shot at him. The translucent barrier he had used before absorbed all of the bullets with ease.

He laughed. "Haven't you heard of saying hello?"

Without warning the room then turned pitch black. There were cries of shock, and then moments later the room was illuminated once more. Sephiroth was gone.

"He can't have got far!" Reeve shouted, kicking himself for not destroying the barrier. "To the wall!"

They ran through all of the previous rooms as fast as they could, up the stone stairs and onto the wall. Sephiroth was a couple of hundred feet in the distance. Vincent took aim once more and fired.

With no barrier prepared this time, a bullet hit him in the right arm. This made him stop abruptly and turn to create another barrier. Reeve was not close enough to destroy it, so they watched as his arm glowed a bright green.

"Healing magic…dammit…" Vincent muttered, they all began to run towards him.

They were about halfway there when something very odd happened. The wall seemed to tremor, as though it were moving. Suddenly however, the source of the quake was discovered. From the ground burst a magnificent crimson dragon, it flew high into the air, and then began to hover, looking down on the parasites.

"I wanted the pleasure of killing you all myself…this will have to do for now…" Sephiroth taunted, "…goodbye, enjoy the afterlife…"

He turned and fled, his left arm glowing red.

Yuffie looked up at the dragon, which seemed to be delaying making the first attack. "Time to rock n roll…" She ran at the wall, extended her arm and from it a pure silver orb shot out into the ground. Her arm began to glow red, and from the earth emerged the great holy war machine that was Alexander.

"Don't mind if I do…" Vincent agreed, also extending his arm, from which bust a black orb which shot towards the sky. The clear blue sky was clouded by thick black storm-clouds, from which galloped a six legged horse bearing the unholy warrior, Odin.

Odin made to attack the dragon which was Neo Bahamut on his descent, but the dragon was too quick for him, it gracefully glided out of the way straight down towards the parasites.

"Split up and take cover!" Tifa shouted, already jumping off of the wall on the side which Alexander stood.

Nobody needed telling twice. Yuffie was right behind Tifa and made her way over to Alexander, the better to take aim at the beast. She mounted the machine and took aim, firing ray after ray of bolts at the dragon, but it dodged them too easily.

Tifa fired fireballs at the dragon, however they were far too slow moving to stand a chance of hitting. "Try and force it towards Odin Yuffie!" She called over.

Yuffie obliged, trying to force the dragon, which had just fired a nasty ball of flame at Reeve, towards the warrior. Bahamut seemed to notice what was going on however, and before making impact with Odin's lance it plummeted, landing on the top of the watchtower.

Red jumped down off the wall and headed over to Tifa and Yuffie. "You're never going to hit it at this rate…"

"Nicely spotted Einstein…" Yuffie replied, taking aim and yet again missing the dodging summon, "…could use a little help."

Red was already on it. The golden aura of his time magic extended straight into Yuffie's eyes. She took aim once more, and this time her aim was true. Bolt after bolt hit the dragon with absurd ease, making it roar in pain.

Fifteen seconds later however, the beam broke and her perception of time returned to normal. The dragon looked over at her and this time fired a ball of non-elemental energy their way. Yuffie abandoned Alexander just before it hit, but then something very unexpected happened. Just as the machine exploded in a spectacular flame, Yuffie was hurled off her feet and slammed with incredible force up against the side of the wall.

"Yuffie!" Red shouted, running over to her as fast as he could. The green mist of restore was quickly sent her way, however she did not wake. Tifa ran over quickly too.

She checked for a pulse. "She is still alive." They both breathed a short sigh of relief, then turned to see the dragons progress.

The shots from Alexander had caused it to become very slow. Dodging seemed to be impossible for it now. Reeve and Vincent were both firing at it, but eventually, it was Odin's lance which found the beasts heart. Broken and defeated the dragon fell and was strewn across the top of the watchtower, clearly dead. Seconds later however, it started to slowly evaporate, as though it had just been dismissed.

Looking back over at where Alexander once was, they saw that all traces of him were also gone. Vincent and Reeve made their way over to the others. "What the hell happened, we thought she got out the way?" Reeve asked.

"We don't know…" Tifa replied, worried, "…Alexander died and then she suddenly…well, you can see what happened next."

"With any luck the same thing will have happened to Sephiroth…" Vincent speculated, "…of all the people that could have been here. Take Yuffie back with you, I have things I need to check here. You know how to reach me…" he made his way back to the labyrinth, leaving Reeve, Red and Tifa to carry Yuffie back to the Jeep.

X

_Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep…_

Josh was getting extremely agitated by this noise. It was odd, it sounded nothing like his alarm clock, yet what else could it possibly be?

_Beep beep, beep beep._

He grunted something incomprehensible, wanting to still sleep.

_Beep beep._

Begrudgingly, Josh opened his eyes. He was staring up at a bright white ceiling, trying to look around, he noticed he could only be in hospital. But why was he in hospital? So many things crossed his mind, none of which seemed to fit the predicament he was in.

"Nurse!" Shouted a voice to his left Josh recognised as his fathers. "Nurse, he's awake!" The sound of footsteps and worried voices, but Josh could not retain consciousness for much longer and involuntarily, he passed out…

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A/N- Enjoy it? We hope you did! Please let us know what you think. We rather enjoyed writing this chapter at any rate =). Til wednesday everyone...

R&A


	18. The Informant

Well hello there again to all, all nicely satisfied by the last chapter? We hope you were, and we also hope this next dosage will satisfy you just as much =D.

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-Chapter Eighteen-

The Informant

"No sighting of him since the Wall, our best hope is that he suffered the same kind of fate Yuffie did, will keep him neutral for a while." Reeve informed Alex. They were talking over the phone. "She is a lot better now though, healing magic still has no effect. Tell Shaun I will give that back to him when I see him next."

"Will do, we will have to be more careful from now on. Has it affected Savina at all?" Alex asked.

"Surprisingly no, it must only affect parasites…" Reeve speculated, "…we must stay vigilant though, things are constantly changing all the time."

"Agreed, anyway I'm nearly at college Reeve, give me a text if anything changes."

"Will do," Reeve assured her, "bye Alex."

"Bye Reeve." She snapped her phone shut and put it in her pocked.

"Any news?" Shaun was walking beside her.

"She is on the mend, Reeve says he will give back restore soon cause it isn't working." They had reached college.

"Didn't think it would." Shaun told her, "…didn't work then saw no reason for it to work now."

The two of them walked towards the café. Alex was supposed to be meeting Josh in there in five minutes. There was still plenty of time before her first lesson of the day, photography. Upon entering the busy café however, she noticed that Josh wasn't there. She thought nothing of this, he was frequently late, so her and Shaun decided to go get a drink and wait for him.

"You know…" Shaun began as they took a seat, "…this shit really is unreal! Do you think anyone would actually believe us if we came clean and told them?"

Alex laughed. "Do be serious…" She took a long draught of her drink, "…do you want to spend the rest of your life in a padded cell being asked ridiculous questions?"

Shaun laughed as well. "I think I would have gone mad by now if it were just me like this here…nobody to talk to about it and all. What do you think?"

"I was near enough insane before I found out you were the same…" Alex replied, and then something Josh said suddenly popped into her head; _"Are you two dating or something cause you are spending a lot of time together…" _

"_Oh don't let it get to you…" _Tifa said to her. Alex forgot that she thought shared, _"…perhaps he is jealous."_

"_Oh do shut up!" _Alex joked, then looked back at Shaun who was looking at her intently.

"Talking?" Shaun asked, a grin on his face, "Don't let me bother you."

"Nothing important…" Alex lied, now remembering Josh still hadn't appeared, "…he isn't coming, we should just head to class."

They took their drinks with them and headed towards the photography block, Tifa still shouting annoying suggestions in her head. _"I mean it would be a little awkward because you two would never get any alone time, so perhaps you should leave it until you're rid of us…"_

"_Tifa put a sock in it won't you? I do NOT fancy him!" _This had to be one of the most annoying traits of having someone in your head, constant advice and no privacy.

Noticing that they had now reached the classroom door, the two of them went in and sat down at their usual seats. Their teacher Adrian was already standing in front of the white board writing something on it. When all of them were present, he began.

"Ok…" He started, "…so as you all know you have got your practical exam coming up soon and we need to be sure you are all prepared for it."

Alex looked at Shaun, "Damn! All this crap that is going on I forgot about our exams…" She muttered quietly.

"Tell me about it…" He agreed, "…doesn't matter, if we fail we could always just become first class illusionists?" He waved the arm containing his materia. Alex chuckled.

The description for the exam was simple, nothing that Shaun and Alex thought they couldn't handle. As the lesson ended however, Adrian held Alex behind.

"I just wanted to talk to you about your collage you did for unit one…" He began, "…you aren't in trouble over it, by all means it is mostly brilliant, there is just one photo I don't understand…"

"Which one?" Alex asked, wondering if he had the collage with him, "That one that has nothing of interest in it, it's just the back wall of the drama department…"

Alex had to think for a moment, thinking deeply she could not remember taking any photo's that didn't have anyone in them.

"I'm not going to mark you down for it it's just a photo I don't understand, was wondering if you could shed some light on it?"

"Erm…I would need to see which one you were referring to sir." Alex replied, utterly bewildered.

"I'll bring it in when the exams are all over." Adrian replied, "You still got a very good mark, not that I told you that." He winked at her, and then walked off.

"What did he want?" Shaun asked as Alex joined him.

"Nothing much," She began, "just something about unit one."

X

"Come on! You have to take her on again." One of Alex's fencing friends said. "Tell her to not go easy on you this time, bet you can still beat her."

Alex privately thought she could, though nobody knew the unfair advantage she had. "You know what fine, if it will shut you up!" She teased.

The fencing lesson which she was currently in went just as all the frequent ones had been going, Alex beating absolutely everyone she came up against. This was mainly from the Speed materia in her arm, though Alex couldn't help but notice that the more she used it the more effective it became.

"_And you thought it was rubbish when we found it!" _Tifa reminded her, Alex smiled.

"Sophie…" Alex began, "…can I fight against you again?"

"Now Alex…" Sophie replied, "…I told you last time I went easy on you."

"I know I know but, if I win this time…could you enter me for the nationals?" Everybody was looking at them now, it took a lot to impress their teacher enough to recommend them for the nationals.

"Alright…you're on." Sophie put her mask on and got into position, as did Alex.

The fight which followed was quite incredible to watch. It was by no means one sided, though this was only because Tifa suggested she let her teacher win a few points so as not to draw suspicion. The match was best of seven and lasted about fifteen minutes, Alex winning four to three.

"Alex I have to admit…" Sophie began, "…you are possibly the best student I have ever seen. I'll get you in the qualifiers for the nationals no problem."

Leaving the sports hall on an all-time high, she got changed and started walking towards Josh's house. She had decided later on in the day when he had still not shown to just pay him a surprise visit at home.

She knocked on his front door when she reached his house. A tall skinny boy answered it, he had long brown hair which covered most of his face. "Hey Seth…" Alex greeted Josh's brother, "…long time no see. Is Josh about?"

"Yo! You haven't heard!" Seth replied in a grunt, "Alex man…he is in hospital, taken ill yesterday."

Alex's eyes widened slightly in shock. "The local hospital?"

"Yeah, mum and dad are with him at the moment." He informed her.

Without another word she turned and ran as fast as she could towards town. How could she have not known this? Any normal person would have got tired very quickly, but her speed materia was giving her the stamina to keep running with apparently no shortage of breath.

She reached the hospital in record time, then ran straight up to reception. "Josh Adams?" The receptionist checked the computer.

"He's just been moved to D ward, straight up the stairs and on the left." The woman replied.

Not wasting any more time she ran up the stairs three a go and found D ward. It did not take long to find Josh, sound asleep, his mother and father on either side. "Erm… hi…" She said sheepishly.

"Hello Alex…" His mum replied, "…sorry we didn't tell you about this but we haven't left him since he was taken ill."

Alex pulled up a chair and sat at the base of his bed. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nobody really knows, whatever it is he seems to be getting better though." She informed her, "he was brought in here and we got the phone-call, not much more we can say. Don't know where he was or what he was doing, at least he is ok…"

She looked fondly at her son for a moment. At that point he stirred slightly, his eyes drifting slowly open and fixing immediately on Alex. She smiled weakly at him "How you doing mate?"

"Been better…" He replied, "…but hey been a lot worse too so who am I to complain?"

"Well I bet I can cheer you up…" He seemed intrigued, "we have exams coming up soon." She laughed.

"Brilliant…" He chuckled slightly too.

"What did you do to yourself then?" She asked, Josh rolled his eyes.

"I keep telling everyone I don't know…" Alex assumed he must have had amnesia or concussion.

"_Which is what you will keep saying…" _Sephiroth spoke to him, _"…why has this not affected me at all? If it weren't for you being in this condition we could continue our search!"_

There was more small talk, Josh seemingly unable to give any satisfactory answers to anyone. This was something his parents assured Alex that had happened since he regained consciousness. After ten minutes however Alex's phone began to ring.

"Sorry I forgot to turn it off…" She looked down at it and saw it was Charles. For the first time ever though, she chose to ignore it.

He did not ring again, instead he sent her a text message;

**Charles Daniels**

_Alex, need to speak to you ASAP. The informant on the Shinra building tip off has contacted me again requesting a meet at midnight tonight at the Variantes casino in Paris, France. This looks like the window of opportunity we need, please reply to me as soon as possible, I have the Jet standing by at a local airfield. Charles._

"I don't mean to be rude everyone but something rather important has just come up…" Tifa had taken control of Alex's voice, "…I'll come visit you tomorrow mate, you take care of yourself!"

"I will try my best." Josh winked.

Alex involuntarily took her leave. _"What the hell did you do that for, I don't care about some bloody informant!"_

"_Alex you have to look at the bigger picture. He is fine and we need to get as much information as possible, I know he is your best friend but seriously…he can wait." _Tifa replied, trying to sound sympathetic.

She dialled Charles' number. "Right we are ready…"

"Good, I have already sent a car to pick up Shaun, where are you so I can tell them where to go?"

"The local hospital." Alex replied bluntly.

"Not hurt are you?" Reeve replied, slightly concerned.

"No no, it's just my friend that's why I didn't answer."

"Sorry to hear that…anyways it should be at the entrance in five minutes, see you soon." He hung up without another word.

X

Paris, France. Charles, Alex and Shaun were walking down the bustling streets of the city. It was amazing just how busy it was for so late at night.

"A city that never sleeps…" Shaun said out loud, "…have always wanted to come here. Just a question though Charles…" He turned to look at him, "…how do you plan on getting me and Alex in? We are only seventeen…"

Charles held up his arm. "I borrowed manipulate off of Yuffie…which wasn't easy considering how much she loves materia…" He smiled slightly, "…once we are inside there shouldn't be a problem. The informant said they would find us, and if it was a trap they wouldn't have picked such a busy location."

"So we just wander round until they find us?" Alex asked, sounding a little sceptical.

"Well I can get you both some chips to play with, might help bring them out." Suddenly the evening sounded a lot more fun.

They turned the corner of the street they were on and saw the Casino on the right hand side of the next street. The 'Variantes' stood out quite clearly against all the other buildings.

They approached the entrance where there were two doormen. "ID please." One of them said.

Charles put his hand into his pocket and extracted his ID, handing it over to the doorman. Just as he did so, his hand glowed a feint yellow. He handed the ID back to Charles and beckoned them all in.

"You didn't ID them?" The other doorman pointed out in his thick French accent.

"They've been here before, don't worry." He replied, this seemed to satisfy the other doorman.

Charles walked up to the Cashier and exchanges for some chips. He divided some between the three of them. "Right we should split up whilst we are inside, if you find them just give me a call and we can regroup."

They entered the Casino. Alex looked down at the large stack of chips Charles had given her and gasped slightly. He had given her twenty five thousand Euros to 'Play' with. This threw into sharp realisation once more just how rich this man was.

"_If you could use your instinct Tifa that would be greatly appreciated." _Alex said, looking around at the packed Casino. There had to be more than a thousand people in the huge room.

"_I will try my best, really can't promise anything though…" _She sounded extremely doubtful in her abilities.

Alex walked lazily round the room for a few minutes, spotting that Shaun had sat down at a blackjack table and was apparently doing very well. She couldn't help but wonder if he was card counting whilst slowing down time…

Deciding that it was pointless to keep walking round doing nothing, and considering the informant was going to find them, Alex decided to play one of the games. The only card game which she could claim to be any good at however was Poker, Texas Hold 'Em.

She sat down at the nearest one, handing over five thousand Euros for a chip exchange. Everybody looked at her rather suspiciously, as though wondering how someone who looked as young as her had acquired so much money.

The first hand was dealt. Nothing special for Alex this time, a two and a 6 of different suits. She folded at the first bet, there was nothing to be gained this time round.

Luck however soon smiled down upon her. Several hands later she was dealt a pair of kings and managed to secure a full house, kings full of threes. A few more good hands came Alex's way, and before she knew it she had won two and a half thousand euros.

She made a mental note to ask Charles if she could keep any winnings just as two more people sat down at the table, a man and a woman. The woman looked around at everyone else and their piles of chips.

"Nice to see you have all brought lots of money for me…" She said rather arrogantly in a French accent.

The next few hands however did not go Alex's way at all. Whenever she was dealt what she thought was a winning pair of cards, the flop would always work in the woman's favour. She was a short woman with vibrant red hair and green eyes which stood out against it, there was something rather hypnotic about them.

Alex had just been dealt a pair of aces, surely a winning hand. She put down a generous raise before the flop had even come up, which only the woman called. The flop was dealt, an ace king and four, all of same suit. Alex raised again, which the woman again called. The turn was dealt, a ten of the same suit. Alex checked this time, as did the woman. The river was dealt, another ten, this gave Alex a full house, Ace's full of tens, she bet handsomely, and to her surprise the woman called it.

"Madame you have been called, showdown please." Alex flipped her cards over to reveal her hand, the woman looked at her, a frown creeping onto her face, it looked oddly fake however. "Full house, aces full of tens, and yourself Madame?" The dealer turned towards the woman.

The woman revealed her cards, the jack and queen of spades. "Royal flush, Madame Cassini wins."

"_She must be cheating…" _Tifa said as Alex picked up her cards.

All of a sudden involuntarily the cards burst into flame. Alex dropped them quickly, and the gentlemen sitting next to her took his jacket and patted them out. There were worried cries of French coming from nearby, and the woman eyed Alex suspiciously.

"Tell me…" She began, addressing Alex, "…I hear China is good this time of year?"

Alex looked at her. "Perfect for a hike along the Great Wall…" She replied, everybody looked at them as though they were a little barmy.

"I was always thinking of going…" The woman continued, handing over her chips for a chip exchange and getting up, "…perhaps with all this money I can."

Alex took her remaining stack of chips which was now relatively few and got up, following the woman over to the bar where Charles already stood. "Francesca Cassini, pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand and offered it to Alex.

"Alex West…" She replied taking it, "…and this is Charles Daniels." She grabbed Charles and brought him over, he seemed to twig what was going on. "Charles, Francesca here was just asking me about China."

"Oh I see…" He began, taking in her appearance, "…lovely climate this time of year."

"So I heard." She replied.

Charles got out his phone and dialled, obviously calling Shaun. "Meet us at the bar." He hung up. "Perhaps we should go somewhere more private?"

"The casino 'comped' me a suite, we can go there." Francesca agreed.

Shaun made it over to them and brief introductions were made before the four of them headed off towards the hotel section of the casino.

X

"First things first…" Francesca began, "…shall we all get to know who we really are?"

One by one they all morphed into their parasite forms. Red, Reeve and Tifa stood in front of her now. She smiled slightly before closing her eyes and allowing her parasite to take control.

It did not look as swift a process as the others had made it, but within moments none other than Elena of the Turks was standing before them. They kept silent for a moment, wondering whether or not the whole thing was a trick.

"Why help us?" Reeve asked. "You have worked for Rufus Shinra up until now, why change sides?"

"Let's just say we didn't agree towards the end back on Gaia…" Elena replied in a posh accent, "…not that he knows that of course, otherwise the information I am giving you would be rather useless."

"And what information have you got for us now?" Tifa asked, walking over to the nearby sofa and sitting down. The suite itself was huge, a window was in place of the back wall which showed the Eiffel Tower in all its glory.

"I can tell you exactly what Rufus is up to…" She replied, "…or as much as I know. You will be saddened to know he has found all of his Turks now, and has established bases worldwide. He is after one thing alone…"

"And what is that?" Red asked.

"So far as I can tell the same thing you are after and the same thing 'he' is after. The black materia. He is hell bent on finding it and destroying it to prevent Armageddon."

"Then why was he torturing me?" Red asked, growling slightly.

"It is not the only thing on his mind, just the main thing. Once the black materia is destroyed he intends to have an all-out offensive against Sephiroth, destroy him so to speak. You are very lucky he did not kill you, that is his goal for when Sephiroth is down…"

"But why? We all have a common goal!" Reeve replied.

"It doesn't matter to him, he wants to rebuild Shinra when…if we get back home. I think disposing of you all would be the icing on his cake…"

The three of them looked at each other. "So he is gathering materia for an offensive…destroying the black materia for a defensive…and killing us for an encore?" Tifa sarcastically remarked.

"Correct." Elena replied. "As far as your friend the ninja is concerned though, I don't think Shinra is the problem, Sephiroth has shown aptitude with summoning and magic in this world I would not have thought possible. I will try and convince Rufus of an alliance when the time is right, can't make any promises there though…"

"No…" Reeve agreed, "…Rufus seems to have retained the arrogance and stubbornness he was renowned for in Midgar…"

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A/N- Hope you like it guys, things to begin to get fairly nitty gritty soon...one chapter in particular coming up in the next few weeks we have considered up'ing the rating of the book for, but hopefully this shouldn't be necessary =). Reviews and con crit...or both if they coincide, until saturday!

R&A


	19. Only Mortal

Hey guys sorry about the lateness, no excuses really! Hope you aren't too angry at us! Enjoy the chapter!

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-Chapter Nineteen-

Only Mortal

With Elena now revealed as the informant, things were beginning to look a lot better for Tifa and her companions. Having someone inside the Shinra organisation was a valuable asset, and the information which she provided them with was priceless. The looming threat of Sephiroth however was still one which dawned on them.

Alex, Shaun and Charles were all back in England now after staying the night in the Casino and learning as much as they could. Elena had also shown them what materia she had managed to gather, the purple Luck Plus materia, a second yellow Sense materia, and the green poison magic.

"Explains why she kept winning at the table…" Alex said to Shaun for the umpteenth time. The two of them were in town having a bite to eat at a fast food restaurant, "…I don't understand why sense works differently for her though, it must have been how she knew what cards I had…"

"Perhaps…" Shaun began, taking a bite of his burger, "…it works differently for different people? Or it works differently under different situations?"

"Interesting concept." Alex replied, just as her phone began to ring, she took it out of her pocket and looked at it.

"Who is it?" Shaun asked, intrigued.

"Vincent," Alex replied flipping the phone open, "Alex speaking." She had been told to use this greeting every time to avoid confusion as her voice and Tifa's voice weren't easy to distinguish.

There was a short phone conversation during which Shaun strained his ears to try and hear anything that was being said on the other end. He caught words such as 'China' and 'Country' which didn't really give much away at all.

Moments later Alex snapped her phone shut, a smile creeping onto her face. "Well, he says something rather interesting happened moments after we had left which he won't tell us until he sees us in person, and," She took a swig of her drink, "he thinks he may have found another one of the parasites."

"Who?" Shaun asked, amazed.

"Wouldn't say, not sure he even knows himself." She set her drink back down on the table and looked across as Shaun. "Says we are going to have to prepare for another long flight though, don't know about you but this is beginning to mess my body clock up badly…"

"Here here," Shaun agreed, "I don't think I have had a normal nights sleep since we got back from China a week ago."

Alex's phone vibrated;

**Josh :)**

_Hey hey! Gonna be a little late in2 college 2day, sumthin came up so don't w8 up for me, see you soon! xxx _

She snapped her phone shut again not seeing the need for a reply. Josh had made a full recovery two days after Alex had visited him in hospital. The doctors however could not work out what was wrong with him, and had therefore just decided to mark it down under stress. This seemed to satisfy his parents, but Alex couldn't help thinking that they were just fobbing him off as a bad egg.

"I might go home for a bit before college, I only have the one lesson today and its ages away." Alex said to Shaun.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"What? Oh no, nothing's wrong, just thinking of trying to catch up on some sleep…" She finished eating the last of her fries.

"_Good, I wanted to speak to you face to face." _Tifa said to her.

X

Nobody was home as expected, they were all either working or busy. Alex walked into the front room and collapsed on the sofa, completely forgetting about Tifa's request to talk to her. Within moments she was asleep.

"_Well that just makes talking to you all the easier." Alex was standing in a deep black void directly opposite Tifa Lockhart._

"_You can't just leave me be for a moment?" Alex joked, knowing full well she would be completely well rested when she woke up._

_Tifa couldn't help but laugh. "This is even more convenient than talking to you through a mirror, means we can go wherever we like."_

_A few moment later the black void they were both standing in materialised into the casino which they were in the previous day, except this time it was completely empty. Alex was a little confused._

"_Why pick here of all places?" She asked, walking over to the poker table she had played Elena at._

"_I found this building fascinating, nothing like this exists back on Gaia…" She too walked over and took a seat at the table, where there was a deck of cards set stacked where the dealer should stand, "…I'm starting to grow quite fond of this world you know?"_

_Alex looked at her with sympathetic eyes. She couldn't help but notice that Tifa was extremely homesick, something which came from the thought sharing process. The cards started to deal themselves to the two of them._

"_You think Elena can be trusted?" Tifa asked Alex, which was fairly counterproductive considering she could just read her mind for the answer._

"_I have my reservations about her, for all we know she could be feeding us rubbish…If only we had had Vincent there he could have sensed whether or not she was being truthful." Alex looked at the two cards she had been dealt and saw a picture of Rufus and Sephiroth on each, she threw the cards face up on the table. "Not an exact art this dreaming business is it?"_

_Tifa smiled and threw her cards face up as well, each bearing a picture of Alexander and Odin. "I guess not," She agreed, "Say Alex…do you think the same thing that has happened to me could happen to people like you?"_

"_What do you mean?" Alex asked._

"_You know, you come through to our world instead?" The cards dealt themselves again._

"_If Vincent's theory is correct wouldn't it be impossible?" Alex replied._

"_I guess you're right…" Tifa looked at her cards, a look of confusion crossed her face. She threw them down face up, both bearing the same picture of several heavily armoured men, roughly six or so on each card, "…that's odd…"_

_Alex threw her cards down face up and to her bewilderment, they bore Tifa, Red, Vincent, Yuffie, Reeve and a shadowed figure neither of them could make out. "Any idea what this is all about?"_

"_Well these cards," She pointed at hers, "are…"_

Alex woke suddenly to the vibration of her phone which had begun to ring. She looked at it and saw it was Savina.

"Alex speaking." She answered, and to her relief it was Savina.

"Alex we had a slight problem…" She replied.

"What is it? Surely Yuffie has recovered if you have taken over?" Alex sounded worried.

"Yes she is fine now…but the Alexander materia…Alex…It's gone…" There was a long silence between them, even Tifa did not have anything to say.

"What do you mean gone? Destroyed?" Alex asked, panicking slightly due to all the effort it took for them to get it.

"It must be…Perhaps it only lasts as long as the summon itself…" Savina sounded extremely disheartened, "…It can't have been stolen off of me, that's impossible…anyway I have let Reeve know, there is nothing we can do except try and understand what has happened."

They said their goodbyes to each other. Alex looked at the time and saw she should be making her way into college. _"This couldn't have come at a worse time…" _Tifa groaned.

X

"So what came up?" Alex asked Josh on their afternoon break.

"Oh nothing much, just had to go back into the hospital to sort things out you know, make sure I'm still in tip top condition." He smiled warmly at her, and Alex had no reason to disbelieve him. "I was wondering," He continued, "if you wanted to do something after College, I know we have exams coming up and everything but it has been ages since we spent some time together hanging out."

Alex could see where he was coming from, though she could not tell him the real reason for her lack of contact with him recently. "Well I was supposed to be meeting up with…"

"Shaun…" Josh finished the sentence for her, probably expecting this answer, "…what is it with you two, we have known each other for years and all of a sudden you can't seem to stay away from him? You know I won't be annoyed if you two are…you know…"

"We aren't!" Alex almost shouted back at him, "It's just the photography exam is coming up and we have both been revising a lot, we want to do well in it you know?"

"Yeah sure…revising…" Josh mocked, "Alex you aren't lying to me are you?"

"No!" This of course was not truthful, but what he was accusing her of wasn't the truth either. "Like I said mate, just been studying a lot. Tell you what I will re-arrange tonight and you and I can go see a movie or something ok?" She assured him, this seemed to cheer Josh up somewhat.

He smiled at her. "Sounds cool to me, there is loads of good stuff out at the cinema at the moment."

"_We can't waste time with menial things like this…" _Sephiroth said to him, _"…we are getting closer and closer to the black materia and you want to spend time with this girl?"_

"_Look," _Josh replied, _"if I keep being so antisocial people are going to start to suspect something aren't they?"_

Sephiroth fell silent, which Josh could only assume meant that he agreed even if he wouldn't admit it. _"You remember what happened to your aunt no doubt?" _

Josh did not answer immediately, he tried to clear his mind of the event. _"Yes, and I know damn well what you are implying, and I will make sure you don't lay a finger on her…"_

The time between the funeral and present day had strengthened Josh's resolve somewhat. When he had been forced to murder his favourite relative he was completely unprepared, now however he had thought of several ways in which he could stop Sephiroth, which hopefully he had not spotted in Josh's mind.

"_Well then tonight it is her funeral…" _Sephiroth replied arrogantly, though this did not scare Josh as Sephiroth had intended.

"_That's it…" _Josh began, enraged, _"…too far now. We aren't looking for the materia anymore, I refuse to help you. You saw them in China, you were running scared, if they had got there first you would have been done for. It's over for you now."_

Sephiroth went silent, and Josh could sense he was going to force a takeover. He was prepared for this however. Without another word to Alex he walked briskly in the opposite direction towards his home. He knew everybody would be out at the moment so there was no need to worry about any death threats there.

Resisting the urge to succumb to Sephiroth's will to control was not an easy task, rather like trying to fight off an extreme urge to sleep. At last though Josh walked in his front door, and headed straight for the kitchen. Before doing anything however, he touched a hand to his forearm and made a green orb appear, still fighting the urge to let Sephiroth take over.

He pulled the orb from his skin and tossed it across the room. _"What do you think you are doing!" _For perhaps the first time ever, Sephiroth sounded frightened.

"Stopping you…" Josh said aloud. He then pulled a sharp knife from the knife block and held it to his wrist, "…like I said you have gone too far…all I need to do is draw this across my wrist and you die with me…"

Josh looked down at the reflection of the knife and saw Sephiroth's panic stricken face in it. _"You wouldn't dare, you don't have the nerve…" _He did not quite sound convinced of himself.

He looked straight into the evil misty eyes of his parasite, pressed the blade to the main artery, and attempted to cut. Sephiroth however was using what must have been all his might to stop him.

It was a battle of will power, whose resolve was the strongest? Josh fought with all his might to press the blade into his skin, just as Sephiroth fought to prevent it. Eventually however, the cold blade pierced the flesh, and blood began to spew uncontrollably from his arm…

What happened next was not expected. All of the materia in Josh's arm burst from it, shooting in all directions and smashing anything it touched. Sephiroth then suddenly, miraculously, burst forth into being, right in front of Josh's eyes.

His arm was bleeding just as Josh's was, but without wasting time he ran towards the restore materia. Josh, who knew he would do this, tackled him as hard as he could, bringing him down to the floor with a sickening thud. Both of them were now laying in a pool of their own blood, Sephiroth still struggling to get towards the green orb that would save him from death.

"You fool!" He shouted at Josh, throwing an elbow back and breaking his nose with a horrid crack, causing him to roll off of him and release his grasp.

X

Five minutes previously, back at college.

"_Well I don't know what was wrong with him, he seemed fine to me…" _Alex said to Tifa in the abandoned computer room. All of a sudden however she felt extremely strange.

"_Can you feel that?" _Tifa asked her, obviously getting the same sensation. _"It feels like…"_

Suddenly however, the materia in Alex's arm burst from her arm, flying in all directions and smashing computers on impact. Then, to her amazement, Tifa burst forth from her and the two of them for the first time ever in the real world stood face to face. Tifa however seemed to be in agonising pain, whereas Alex felt like she was going to pass out.

"What the hell is happening!" She shouted at Tifa, who had collapsed to the floor, grabbed her head and started writhing in agony.

"I don't know!" She shouted back, then she let out an ear-splitting scream which Alex was sure would alert other people in the building. It was extremely fortunate the room they were in was empty.

Alex ran over to the door, pulled down the blind and locked it. Then hurried back over to Tifa, wishing she had healing magic. Alex grabbed one of the orbs and tried to re-equip it. No luck however, the materia seemed to be repelling itself from her arm.

Seconds later however, Tifa stopped screaming, looked up at Alex, and with the sound of a gunshot and a jet of white light Alex was lifted off of her feet and slammed onto the nearest desk. Tifa had vanished.

"Tifa?" Alex said to the empty room.

"_I'm here…" _Said a voice in her head, _"Get the materia back on then get Reeve on the phone…"_

Just as she put the last orb back in her skin however, her phone began to ring and none other than Charles Daniels was calling. She answered immediately.

"Charles! You won't guess…"

"It happened to you too!" He said in disbelief. "Reeve just left my body completely, I thought he was dying…"

"Yes Tifa just…what the hell just happened…it makes no sense!" Alex looked around and the nearly destroyed room, then walked over to the door and made her exit swiftly not wanting to be found at the scene.

"I will call the others, we need to see if this happened to everyone before we start drawing conclusions…" He hung up without another word.

Instantly however Alex got a call from Savina, who had exactly the same story, then from Shaun, and then to her utter surprise from Josh.

"Hey Alex!" He greeted her cheerfully, "So I checked movie times, should be able to catch the eight o clock one, sound good to you?"

"Why the hell did you just run off?" Alex replied, still slightly in shock from what had just happened.

"What? Oh nothing really, don't worry about it…" He sounded slightly down-hearted, "…so meet at the cinema at quarter to?"

"Erm…sure I guess." Alex replied. They then said their goodbye's, leaving Alex walking very quickly away from the computer room.

X

"So I have high hopes for this movie…" Josh said upon greeting her, "…critics are calling it the best film of the year so far!"

"_Josh…" _Sephiroth began, his tone unreadable, _"…I don't know what just happened there, but maybe it is time to agree to disagree…no more death threats from either of us but we work together to get the materia, I think it is our only chance of going our separate ways without killing each other…"_

Josh did not reply, he and Alex were buying their tickets.

"_We must meet with Reeve as soon as possible, do we really have to see this film?" _Tifa asked.

"_Yes we can't just cancel now, and he is going to take a couple of hours to get here anyway so what difference does it make?" _Alex replied, this seemed to satisfy Tifa.

Alex was sure the movie was probably a good one though she could not pay attention to it. The only movie she could see was the constant replay in her mind of the event which had just taken place. Two long hours later they emerged into the evening, Josh seeming to have taken in just as little as Alex had.

"Well that was a slight disappointment…" He began, "…oh well, at least now I know not to always go on what the critics say…"

"Yeah…" Alex agreed, still not really paying attention to anything, "…oh well though lesson learned."

"Say…" Josh began, "…when are you and I going to have another fencing match against each other? Heard you beat our teacher pretty bad, shame I missed that lesson."

"Well soon I guess. Whenever you decide to show up would be a start!" She teased, making him laugh.

"Still gonna whoop you one day!" He joked, "Nationals girl!" He had been extremely impressed when he had heard she was being put up for them.

"We shall see my friend, we shall see!" They hugged each other goodbye and made their way home.

Alex checked her phone to see she had a text from Charles;

**Charles Daniels**

_It happened to everyone, this is going to take a lot of thinking about. Vincent will be back in the country soon so expect to hear from him. Like I always said, things are constantly changing. I dare say I will see you very soon. Take care of yourself until then Alex. Charles Daniels._

"_Yes, I hope we do see him soon…" _Tifa agreed as Alex walked in her front door.

* * *

A/N- Next chapter on wednesday and this one wont be late we promise! Con crit and reviews appreciated as always. Until wednesday.

R&A


	20. Company at the Cathedral

Just in time, many of you will have noticed we are a fan of late night uploading hehe. Enjoy!

* * *

**-Chapter Twenty-**

**Company at the Cathedral**

_Ring ring…ring ring…ring ring…_

"Ugh…" Alex groaned to the sound of the phone, she managed to muster up enough energy from her tired self to answer it though. "Yeah…" She groaned, still half asleep.

"Alex its Vincent." Her brain was working ten times slower than it normally did.

"Ugh Vincent…what do you want it's like…" She checked the clock which was illuminated on her bedside table, "…two in the morning, I'm trying to sleep!"

"Sleeping can wait, what I've got to tell you all is far more important…" He replied. Alex took a while to wake herself up a little more in order to muster up an answer.

"What do you mean tell us all?" She asked, noticing the use of the word.

"As in everyone. I need you to meet me…"

"Oh god no!" She moaned, cutting him off, "It's late Vincent! Can't we do this in the waking hours!"

"I need you to meet me at the Cathedral as soon as you can, I'm here already, the rest are on their way. I'll leave it to you to collect Shaun. Try to be as quick as you can…" He finished, leaving Alex deadly silent.

"Ugh yeah fine whatever, I'll be there soon." She chucked the phone down on her bed and managed to muster up enough energy to get up. Whatever this was it had best be important.

She went to the bathroom and splashed her face with some cold water. She looked in the mirror and saw Tifa looking back at her, obviously wide awake. _"Perhaps he has answers?" _She suggested.

"I really couldn't care less at the moment…" Alex mumbled quietly.

She got dressed as quickly as her tired self would let her and got Shaun on the phone. "Yeah I know it's late, I need you to meet me and the others at the Cathedral as soon as possible though…I know…I said that to him already…Let's hope so…No need to use that language…See you soon, bye." She hung up from the pleasant conversation.

"_Tifa can you just take over so I can sleep more?" _Alex suggested.

"_Once you get out of the house." _She agreed, obviously sensing the lethargy of her host.

She snuck out of the house as quietly as she could so as not to wake anyone. They were all in such deep sleeps though that this was hardly a problem. The cold night air slapped her in the face hard as she got outside. Alex groaned again before setting off out of sight so that Tifa could take over.

X

The cathedral itself was spectacular. Why Vincent had chosen this particular location for them to meet however was anybody's guess. Tifa and the disguised ginger dog that was Red XIII strode up to it, taking in its grandeur appearance as they did so. Even though they had been in this world for a good few months now, it was a sight they had yet to see.

They walked up to the large front doors to find that they had been unlocked already, obviously by Vincent for their arrival. They walked in, the creaking of the unoiled hinges echoing in the huge room beyond. Both of them looked around, there was no sign of the red caped figure anywhere.

"Well he said he was here already…" Tifa informed Red, closing the door behind them and walking into the room, "…wonder who he found?"

"All in good time." A voice came from seemingly nowhere. From the shadows emerged Vincent Valentine. "The others should be here soon, I have much more to tell you all…"

"Well that is always welcome news," Tifa agreed, "Just Reeve and Yuffie we are waiting on then?"

"And Elena. Gives me a chance to see how truthful she is really being…" Vincent explained, "I'm just as sceptical about that as I'm sure you are."

The door creaked open once more and through it walked the slight figure of Yuffie. She skipped merrily down towards them all. "You really do pick bad times Mr Valentine!" She giggled.

"Apologies, you will all forgive me though I assure you." He replied.

"It's not me that's pissed its Savina!" Yuffie informed him, "She is sleeping at the moment, I'll fill her in on this after."

Tifa made a mental note to do the same with Alex, she had temporarily forgot that she wasn't listening. The door creaked open again, and this time it was both Elena and Reeve who walked through it.

"Quite a mysterious meeting point you have chosen." Elena pointed out. "What would have been wrong with a hotel suite?"

"That Elena, would leave a paper trail." Vincent pointed out, "Something which we should endeavour to avoid from now on."

Once they were all at the front of the Cathedral, all but Vincent took a seat in the front row. Vincent stood on the raised platform in front of them, the better to talk to the lot of them.

"First of all a thanks to Elena for all the help she has been," Vincent began, making Tifa suspect he had sensed that her intentions were genuine, "knowing Rufus' movements is a big help."

"No problem." Elena remarked. "He may not see it but we need to stick together here."

"Quite." Vincent agreed. "Secondly as most of you know, I have found another one of us, he is quite a distance away from here though."

"Who is it?" Reeve asked.

"It's Barret." Vincent replied simply. "I managed to find him on a trip to America, I was searching several of the monuments over there when the instinct fortunately kicked in and we found each other."

"So we well and truly have been scattered worldwide." Red commented, sounding slightly disheartened. "Are we ever going to find everyone?"

"Of course we will, we have to stay optimistic!" Tifa said, trying to shed some light on the subject, "Think about it that only leaves us with Cloud and Cid to find!"

"Precisely." Vincent agreed. "We almost have the whole team back together, which is going to give us a good chance against Sephiroth."

"And the Shinra…" Elena pointed out, "…Rufus is still being as relentless as ever."

"Barret had some interesting news…" Vincent continued, grabbing their attention. "He has managed to locate another summon materia, only this one will be extremely difficult to even get close to."

They all pondered this for a moment. "Why is that?" Reeve asked nervously.

"Because it is located in Fort Knox." As he expected nobody seemed to react to this, all of the hosts were asleep so nobody knew just what Fort Knox was except Vincent. "Allow me to explain. Fort Knox is the most secure location in the world. It has the largest gold supply anywhere and is pretty much impenetrable, unless of course you have abilities like ours."

"Yeah!" Yuffie agreed, "Those jewels were…" She fell silent, obviously remembering that she no longer had the Alexander materia.

Vincent seemed to be able to read her thoughts. "I know what happened to your materia Yuffie." He said, grabbing her attention immediately but not causing her to speak. "Well I can take a very good guess, Sephiroth has it now."

"But how…why…what?" She spluttered, Vincent laughed quietly.

"It would appear that we can win summon magic off of other people here. Whoever gets the finishing blow on the summon if a summon dies claims it for their own." He touched a finger to his arm and made two red orbs appear, "Hence why I am now the proud owner of Neo Bahamut."

Everybody looked extremely impressed. "So how do you plan to knock off Fort Knox?" Elena asked.

"How do 'we' you mean?" Vincent prompted. "We will be relying heavily on manipulation, if we can get an insider it shouldn't be too difficult, much like your time with the jewels." He looked at Tifa, Red and Yuffie.

"So where exactly is Barret?" Tifa asked.

"Currently he is in Kentucky awaiting our arrival." Vincent informed them. "His host is in the military and has extensive knowledge of the fort, which is lucky. All the more reason to believe that the materia is still making its way through to this world even now, several months down the line. If this fort is anything to go by though, the materia should be a very good one indeed."

They all agreed with him, this was going to be one of the hardest tasks any of them had undertaken. "Not sure our hosts are going to take too well to the idea of breaking into the highest security building on the planet…" Red pointed out.

"On the subject of your hosts in particular…" He looked at Tifa and Red, "…you are going to have to make your excuses again, this is going to take a week at most, so make up a good excuse this time."

"Well…" Yuffie said, looking over at them, "…I think manipulation might be in order this time, wouldn't ya say!" She smiled at the both of them.

"We'll run it by them when they wake up, but I see your point…"

X

"Knock off Fort Knox…" Alex said to Shaun in the darkroom, "…you know what, I think they are starting to lose their marbles…"

"Well it must be something good there like they said…and there is nothing to stop us snatching a few of the gold bullion in the process!" To Alex's surprise he actually sounded serious.

It was very fortunate that nobody seemed to favour darkroom printing, as anybody listening into their conversation would be fairly alarmed. All of the other students in their class seemed to be doing digital printing at the moment.

"Almost makes me wish I had forced myself to stay awake for the meeting." Shaun said, moving one of his prints into the next solution. "What are you going to tell your parents this time?"

"Tifa keeps saying Yuffie offered to manipulate…I don't know though, I really had hoped I wouldn't have to do that to my family…" She took one of her prints out of the final solution and hung it up to dry.

"Might be the best way though, means you don't have to lie to them and if things do go wrong…well they will be able to deny any involvement in the whole thing. Not that it will go wrong of course!" Shaun hastily added at the end, moving his print again.

"We are leaving tonight anyway…Shaun, are you not getting annoyed from all this travelling yet? I mean I know this whole thing is supposedly very serious…Oh forget it…I just keep expecting to wake up." Alex looked across the dimly lit red room.

"We have both seen how serious this is…it is a miracle we can keep doing our college work at the same time. I can't help thinking it is a little pointless though." Shaun moved his picture to soak. "Hey, at least we will have something to tell the kids when we're older!"

Alex dropped the pair of tongs she was holding. _"My dear I really don't think he was implying anything there…" _Tifa said to her in an assuring way. Alex quickly picked the tongs back up off of the floor.

When college was finally over, the two of them made their way to their respective homes. Alex was surprised to see Savina standing outside of hers when she got there. "No need Alex, they know you aren't going to be here for a week."

Alex looked at her. "You just went ahead and manipulated them!" She was furious.

"Reeve said we can't waste any more time, we need to get moving. Time is always against us."

"But they are my parents!" Alex shouted at her, resisting the urge to run up to her and smack her in the face for her ignorance.

"I know that, you think I didn't try to reason with Reeve first? Look all I've done is made sure they know where you are going and that they didn't object, they aren't under my control." She assured Alex, "Now can we please get a move on and go to Shaun's house so I can do the same there, we need to hurry."

X

The atmosphere on the jet was very tense. Alex and Shaun were both in equally foul moods, neither of them speaking to Savina or Reeve. It was the same jet which they had used to travel to China in.

"I must say Reeve this is very impressive…" Elena remarked, walking over to a bar which was not installed on their last journey. She poured herself a drink, then offered one to each person in turn. "If you are going to travel, travel in style…"

Alex to everybody's surprise accepted her drink. Nobody had known her to touch alcohol before. This was evident when she took the first gulp and spluttered, Shaun laughed quietly. "Not been to many party's I take it?"

"It's not that, I just never usually drink…" She took another gulp with more dignity this time, "another long damn flight…"

"Do try to cheer up a little…" Vincent said, walking over to the pair of them, "…forgive me for pointing out the obvious but are you both starting to get a little tired of your parasites…?"

"It's not that as such." Alex began, downing her drink completely, "More the constant hopping on planes and having to lie to everyone. Why can't we just be straight with people? Tell them where we are going just perhaps not why."

"It is easier to keep as many people in the dark as you can and keep the specifics between those who really need to know." Vincent informed her. "Besides which…I have a feeling you won't need to keep things secret much longer at all…"

This made everybody present look at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Reeve asked, slightly angry.

"Well…" Vincent began, "…call it a premonition of sorts, I've never believed in being able to see the future but, I don't know how to explain it. It's just something I know, a vision I had whilst asleep. I saw Sephiroth revealed to everyone, but then I saw us too, and I don't mean just us, Cloud was there…"

Tifa suddenly took over Alex's form. "What do you mean Cloud was there? You aren't being very specific…"

"Specificity isn't important, I just know it was true, and I know it will happen soon…" Everybody seemed gripped.

"How soon?" Shaun asked, wondering if he would get an answer.

"Within the next two days at most…don't ask me how I know, I just know."

"Oh please!" Yuffie said, nobody had noticed her take over Savina. "We just have your feeling to go on, you think that we are all going to be exposed! What could possibly happen?"

"Like I said I don't know specifics." Vincent repeated. "Well, not those kinds of specifics at any rate."

"Wait if you are right," Tifa began suddenly noticing what he was implying, "You are saying that Cloud will return within two days?"

"Correct." Vincent said, everybody was still confused as to how he could be so sure, "But, and this is just my gut feeling, I think it is going to be a long two days…"

X

They touched down at an airfield in Kentucky after the long flight. What Vincent had said to them all had given them much to dwell on. Tifa had failed to mention the dream which she and Alex had had, this sounded like a similar sort of case. She would have to wait though, if her suspicions about the dream were true, then she knew full well what was coming up in Fort Knox.

There were several heavily armed men waiting for them as they got off the plane. Barret, or at least his host, was instantly recognisable. He was at least six foot four in height and built like a tank. He has startling blue eyes and short brown hair and dark skin. He looked to be in charge of the men he was standing with.

All of them had reverted to host form before getting off of the plane. Charles walked up to him. "Emilio Garcia, pleasure to meet you Mr Richards." He greeted him with a slight Spanish accent which was barely noticeable, and also with a slight wink, double confirming that this was indeed Barret.

"_I can assure you Barret himself isn't that well-mannered, unless his host has taught him a lesson or two in them…" _Tifa said slyly to Alex.

Emilio and his guards led them all over to what looked like a heavily armoured Hummer. Wondering if this was entirely necessary, they all got in one after the other, Emilio almost having to bend double due to his height.

Once all in the car it roared into life and they were off. "The driver can't hear us?" Charles asked.

"No, soundproof glass dividing us." Emilio assured them. "We wait until we get to the barracks before we change. I know who you all are already of course…" He put his feet up on the empty seat opposite him.

The barracks were not very far away at all, and before they knew it they were being lead into what looked like the commanders office. Emilio was obviously of quite a high rank. "Last one in please lock the door…" He said as Francesca walked through. She locked it.

Without the need to be prompted they all changed swiftly into their parasite forms. The tall heavily built figure of Barret Wallace stood before them all. "About %$^£%$ time you all showed up!" He almost shouted at them.

"Nice to see your host has had an impact on you…" Tifa said sarcastically, then walked up and hugged him, "…it's good to see you again!"

He lifted her off her feet in the hug. "Avalanche reborn again baby!" He cheered, setting her down. "Right, to business…" He looked around at all of them, "This Fort Knox of theirs seems to be quite a fancy place so we are gonna have to be careful if we don't wanna get £%$^%$ up." He looked walked over to a map on the far wall. "We are here…" He pointed unnecessarily at a big blue marker, the only marker on the map. "and the fort is allllllll the way over here!" He pointed quite far west of their location. "A hundred miles or so, best pack some sandwiches boys and girls cause it's a no fly zone over there! Gotta get there by truck."

They all groaned, as if they hadn't done enough travelling already. Barret then proceeded to go into finer details of how to get inside…

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A/N- Hope you like it guys, next chapter saturday...and it will be saturday this time! Reviews appreciated as always! Til next time,

R&A


	21. One Step Ahead

Sincere appologies for being so so late in uploading. Huge issues recently all of which are resolved now =). Enjoy the chapter!

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-Chapter Twenty-One –

One Step Ahead

Back in their host forms they had decided against taking the hummer to the fort. The one hundred mile journey would take them just under two hours, giving them plenty of time to plan how they were going to get inside and find the materia, whatever that was.

"Looking at it, we shouldn't have to create too much of a hassle. All we want is one small orb that nobody else seems to be even remotely aware of…" Vincent pointed out as they drove down the road in the Jeep, he rarely ever went back into his host form. Emilio of course was driving.

"The fort itself used to have thousands of personnel, it still does but recent government funding has seen the loss of a lot of jobs. It will be easier now to 'invade' so to speak." Emilio informed them, though this did nothing to calm the nerves of anyone.

"Maximum Yuffie can manipulate at a time and keep control of is ten, a vast improvement from one but still nowhere near enough…" Savina chipped in, "…looks like we are going to have to go for the stealthier option, something which her and I are most accomplished at."

Charles looked over at her. "And you are just going to check the entire fort yourself are you? It could take a single person days even with the instinct in such a crowded space."

Savina could see where he was coming from, as could the rest of them. With a little bit of luck however, which happened to be something Elena was never short on, they would be able to find the materia and get out of the fort undetected.

"So how do we get in undetected if it is so heavily guarded?" Savina asked Emilio.

"I have the security clearance to get us into the fort so that shouldn't be a problem. You will need to manipulate the guards at the front gate to make them believe you are personnel too, once we get inside it shouldn't be a problem, it's just a matter of keeping our heads down and remaining undetected." He put his foot down slightly and started to speed along the main road they were on.

Two long hours of tactical talks and speculations of possible materia locations within the fort passed before they finally say it creep over the horizon. What they could see however was only the outer wall of the fort, the main part was inside these walls.

There was something rather odd looking about it though, which became more and more apparent as they got closer and closer. There was smoke rising from the fort, far too much of it to just be burning any kind of waste. They reached the front gate, nobody was there guarding it, yet it wasn't open either.

"Allow me…" Said Reeve, nobody had noticed him swap back in. He raised his hand and it began to glow the familiar green colour, seconds later the gate began to creep open, "…better than breaking it down…"

The site that they met now was terrifying. The far eastern wall had been completely broken down by what looked like a huge machine, there were big craters where what looked like the feet would have stepped each time. The main building in the middle was still intact, the fire was strewn all around the courtyard.

The bodies of soldiers littered the area in which they stood. Clearly dead, many staring blankly up at the bright sky as though daydreaming.

"We proceed with caution…" Vincent said, rather unnecessarily, taking a very weary step forward into the courtyard, "…whoever it was may still be inside."

"It can't be Rufus…he hasn't said anything about Fort Knox…" Elena informed them after taking over Francesca, "…unless of course he played it close to the chest."

They all began to walk very slowly towards the main building that was Fort Knox. It was disturbing just how many people had been killed, hundreds of people adorned with camouflage were passed on their way to the building.

The parasites reached the main entrance to the building. This door too was sealed shut, as though nobody had even been inside. Reeve worked his magic to get them inside, and they all entered.

Upon entering they found that someone had indeed already been here. The huge vault door across the main antechamber was blown off its hinges.

"It makes no sense though," Tifa said quietly to the others, "this is the most heavily guarded place in the world and yet where are the authorities? Why has nobody noticed that there has been a break in?"

"Fair point." Barret agreed, "only one person that could have done this though eh?" They all knew of course who he was referring to.

"That's just too damn weird though!" Reeve said in exasperation, taking another tentative step forward. "We met him on the great wall and now apparently here…how is he always ahead of us!" He walked straight into another dead body. Looking round they saw that everybody inside had been completely slaughtered.

"This one has been shot though…" Elena pointed out a body that had several bullet wounds to the chest, "…I didn't think Sephiroth used guns?"

"Probably the reflection of a barrier…" Vincent suggested, subconsciously touching a finger to his neck, "…you can just picture it now can't you? All these men completely oblivious to his power firing as many bullets at him as they could…"

Yes, it all seemed far too clear now. No doubt Sephiroth was either still inside looking for the materia, had acquired it and made a break for it, or had not managed to find it. This last hope was extremely wishful thinking however.

"Well we came all the way here…" Barret began, striding fairly confidently over to the hole which had once bore the vault door, "…might has well take a look inside, see if there is anythin' we can use."

The others agreed with him and followed. The site which they were met with was both one of horror and amazement. On one hand there was more gold than any of them could ever have dreamed of. Thousands upon thousands of gold bullion secured behind steel bars reminiscent of a prison cell. On the other however, tens maybe hundreds of dead soldiers, some who had been liberated of their torsos and heads.

"Looks like his work alright. He wanted to make a splash it would seem, mass murder, thousands of American militia dead…" Vincent thought aloud, "…this could cause a war depending on what the authorities surmise happened."

They walked deeper into the bullion reserve vault, noticing just what a clean job Sephiroth seemed to have made of it all, not one single survivor.

"Well we might as well look for the materia…" Yuffie said, half-heartedly, "my instinct isn't picking up anything though." She walked over to one of the open cages containing gold bullion and picked one up. "Wow this is heavy."

"Put it back…" Reeve instructed her, "…it's bad enough what has happened here already."

Yuffie begrudgingly replaced the brick. They all conducted a small search, though none of them really wanted to stay long considering the décor they had been left with. No doubt it would only be a matter of time before the authorities were with them as well.

"This isn't going to get us anywhere…" Vincent said to Reeve, who nodded in agreement, "…we were too slow, he isn't even here anymore."

"I hate to admit that you are right. We regroup back in England and decide where we go from here, things could get nasty in the world now…" He was remembering just how long both the apartment explosion and the tower break-in had made headlines in the UK.

They all agreed to leave, as they reached the vault door however, Vincent did something very peculiar. He turned, extended his materia arm, and it glowed yellow for a good ten seconds. He closed his eyes as he did this, then suddenly, he looked very alarmed.

"There is a survivor in here somewhere!" He shouted at them, returning to the Vault floor and beginning to check bodies that were still in one piece for a pulse.

"How do you know!" Yuffie cried, joining him in the search.

"I can sense it, there is one survivor but they aren't going to last long so we need to find them!" He continued looking. Whoever this survivor was they could not be conscious, or they were so badly injured they could not speak.

They were searching for roughly ten minutes before Tifa finally shouted. "Over here!" Everyone ran over to her, seeing that she was crouching over the body of a young woman with an extremely deep gash across her chest.

"Red we need healing magic…" Reeve said, Red was already on the case however. The green mist seemed to stitch up the wound before their very eyes. It took several attempts due to Red's current state of shock from the whole situation, but soon the woman was stirring.

She looked at them all. "Who…who are you?" She asked, frightened.

"Don't worry we are here to help…what is your name?" Tifa replied assuring her, the woman seemed to believe this.

"A…Alicia…" She sat up slightly, wincing from what must have been the ache left from the cut.

"Alicia…" Reeve began, kneeling down next to her, "…can you tell us what happened here?"

She looked as though she was about to break down into tears. Her eyes flicked across the room where her fellow militia had been murdered. "A machine…a huge machine broke down the walls of the fort…it came from the earth, we had no time to prepare any kind of defence…"

"Go on…" Vincent pressed, also kneeling down.

"Bullets didn't seem to affect it, it just kept on walking and firing…I don't know what it was firing…light?" She looked at them as though for help.

"Sounds like Alexander…your theory is right after all Vincent…" Yuffie said, defeated.

"It killed everything in its path…and then that man, the man with the silver hair…" She started to cry silent tears, "…nothing would hit him, no matter how much we tried."

"It doesn't fit though…" Elena began, "…how could he alone take down all these men in here even with a barrier?"

"One man?" Alicia questioned, "No, he had at least thirteen accomplices once he got inside the vault… We tried to ambush him, the remaining militia mounted an attack against him whilst he was in here, that's when there were thirteen others, all seemed invulnerable to harm…all wielding very medieval weapons…"

Tifa got to her feet when she realised what Alicia was on about. She turned to her companions. "The knights of the round…"

Yuffie was the first to respond. "Well its game over then, how on earth are we supposed to match up to such a force?"

"Thing is I knew this was coming…" Tifa began, everyone looked at her, she looked Vincent straight in the eye, "…Alex and I, we had a premonition too, in a dream. From what I could make out, it implies all of us are going to have to face them and Sephiroth soon…"

"Why didn't you tell us…" Vincent replied, slightly annoyed, "…we could have pre-empted this, possibly prevented it!"

"I didn't think anything of it, after all it was just a dream…who knew that it was in fact reality?" Nobody argued with her.

"Anybody else want to share a premonition?" Vincent asked, looking round at all of them. Nobody however seemed to have had one. "Well this is not good…Alicia? Where is the control room for the security cameras?"

"Destroyed…" She replied helplessly, "…there is something else you should know though."

They had all begun to leave, but had turned round at this. "Go on?"

"That man, the one with the silver hair…he changed when he thought we were all dead…physically changed his appearance to resemble that of a teenage boy…" Tifa walked back over to her when Alicia said this.

"What did he look like?" She asked.

"I don't know…tall? Brown hair? That's all I remember…He threatened to kill himself, I don't understand why or who he was saying it to…" So Sephiroth had a teenage boy as his host, this was the most useful thing they had discovered thus far.

They all went to leave. "Yuffie." Vincent said to her in an undertone. "Manipulate her memory, make her forget this we can't have the story of what really happened getting out."

She obliged, causing Alicia to lose consciousness once more. They all walked back out into the courtyard. Nothing had changed, the authorities were still yet to get on the case which was unnerving in itself. They all stood in the courtyard for a moment, nobody saying anything.

Vincent eventually broke the silence. "Barret, you and I should stay here and see how the government react to this, if this does cause a world war we will need to know before anybody else does. The rest of you should head back to England, tell your hosts to act as though they know nothing about this, we can't raise suspicions." They all walked towards the jeep.

"I will remain in the States as well." Elena informed them all, "Rufus has a base established in Nevada, I have orders to be there soon. I shall need to play my part if you want information on him to keep coming your way." They all nodded at her.

"Things really are beginning to heat up now…" Red said, jumping in the back, "and if Vincent is right, the worst is yet to come…"

X

_Good afternoon and welcome to the news at one, today's headlines. Fort Knox, the world's largest gold bullion reserve was yesterday crippled under a huge terrorist attack. Authorities say it was murder on a colossal scale, though as far as initial reports go nothing was taken from the Vaults, our American correspondent reports…_

Alex flicked the TV off. It was everywhere the next day, in the newspapers and on every single TV channel. The news was the biggest of the millennium thus far, and it had people running scared. The reason being of course if that nobody had a clue who truly committed the crime except the parasites.

Vincent had informed them earlier that very morning that the president of the united states did not have a clue where to begin. The meeting which he had had with all of his advisors yielded no results, and he was forced to make a public speech saying how justice would be delivered and the ones responsible found.

What kept playing on Alex's mind the most however, was Vincent's premonition. The thought that the parasites were soon to be exposed was frightening, would she be outcast? Disowned by her family? As Vincent had said however, it was not specific, who knew what was going to happen.

Her phone began to ring, and to her utter amazement it was Josh. "Hey buddy, how you doing?" She answered immediately. "Tell me about it, can't seem to get away from the news even when I turn the TV off!"

X

"Yeah I know, bit of a bummer for a Saturday, still we have fencing to look forward to later right?" He replied, Sephiroth pretty much telling him what to say without saying it for him.

"Uh huh, don't forget I still have that video of you kicking his ass! Oh wait I didn't tell you I filmed your final match of the tourney… Aww don't be like that, I would have wiped it if he won! Anyways I'll see you at six mate, just don't say the words Fort Knox when you see me!" He joked.

He hung the phone up. _"Your device can film people?" _Sephiroth asked. It was questions like this that made Josh remember just how out of sync he was with the technology of this world.

"Yep." He replied out loud, "Pretty neat huh?" He flicked his phone to the video section and found the one that he had referred to on the phone with Alex.

He hit play, watching as Alex struggled for the first two points yet then pulled a victory out of the bag. He smiled as the masked figure he knew to be Alex shook the hand of the referee, then removed her mask to smile at the crowd…Josh's hand went rigid, and the phone fell to the floor. He sat there for a few moments in utter shock.

X

"I'm only saying it was probably the…" Alex's mum began,

"Stop being so racist! You don't have any idea who it was same as the authorities don't so stop trying to guess, you are just making yourself look bad." Alex cut her off, walking into the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

"This is big big news though, for somebody to take on a place with such high security and get out without a trace…ooooh wouldn't you have loved to have just been a fly on the wall?"

"_If she only knew…" _Tifa said in Alex's head, making her choke on some of the juice she had just gone do drink.

"I can't imagine being a fly on the wall to thousands of peoples deaths to be a very nice experience mum, so in answer to your question," She downed the drink and set the glass down, "no, I would not love to have been a fly on the wall."

She began to walk towards her room. "Oh I forgot to mention, one of your classmates dropped off some of your work whilst you were gone, I left it on your bed!"

Alex thought this was extremely generous of whoever this was considering she was only gone for a day. Upon entering her room however she saw a large a2 board wrapped up in brown paper. This, she thought, must be her collage.

There was a note attached to it;

_Like I said it won't mark you down, but if you intend to keep it I really would advise changing that one print, it just takes away from the overall cheery mood of the whole piece. Adrian._

She unwrapped it and looked around for the print he was referring to. At first glance however she could not see the print which he meant, every single print had either a person/group of people or an obvious main point of interest. Upon closer inspection however, she noticed one print which was very out of place, a picture of someone standing in front of the drama building wall.

Instinctively, she drew her phone out of her pocket and began to dial Charles' number, but then halfway through she stopped, cleared it, and replaced the phone in her pocket.

"_What do you think you are doing!" _Tifa shouted at her causing Alex to grab her head in discomfort, _"You need to tell them, you absolutely need to!"_

"_NO!" _Alex screamed back, a tear now running down her cheek, _"And no matter how hard you try to make me I won't!" _She dissolved down onto her knees, both hands clutching her head. She could feel Tifa trying to take control, trying to make her call Charles and blow the whole thing open. _"I…Will…Not…"_

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A/N- Dun dun dun! Anyways reviews, con crit both welcome. Next chapter wednesday!

R&A


	22. Race for Armageddon

**-Chapter Twenty-Two-**

**Race for Armageddon**

The Nevada desert, six hours previous.

A black car was driving up the single road which ran across the wasteland which was the never ending desert. Where this vehicle could be headed was anyone's guess, the driver however, a tall blonde woman, seemed to know exactly where it was she was going in this barren.

She drove for what seemed like miles and miles before finally coming to a complete halt. The woman waited for a few moments before driving off of the road and onto the desert sands. For another few miles she drove, apparently in no particular direction before stopping dead right in the middle of nowhere.

A few seconds later however, the car began to descend slowly and though being absorbed by quicksand, though the driver did not look worried at all. Moments later, Elena got out of the car. She was standing in what must have been the antechamber of the base. This particular one was one which she had never been to before.

There was only one door out of this relatively small chamber, which she walked towards and pushed open. This revealed a larger main chamber, where there were already around twenty people gathered. In the middle of the room was the familiar huge map table which she must have seen in around three different locations and on countless computer screens. She walked in, her heels making an ominous echo around the brightly lit room.

Several people who were gathered round the map looked up at her. Rufus was prominent in the middle, however he did not look up upon hearing her enter. Whatever he was doing at the moment seemed to have him lost in concentration. Nobody said a word to her, and she walked over to join them at the map.

"I assume you have heard the news about Fort Knox sir?" She began, Rufus still did not look up at her however.

"There is only one person that could have possibly invaded it what intelligence could you have that could possibly interest me…?" His eyes kept sweeping the table as he said this.

"Well I went there soon after the attack…" Elena informed him, conveniently missing out what company she went on this excursion with, "…I can tell you exactly what materia was in the vault."

For the first time since she had entered the room, Rufus looked up from the table and straight at her. "Was it the black materia?" He asked simply.

"No, it was the…"

"Then I don't care, as long as he doesn't get his hands on that then we are safe." He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. This did not greatly bother Elena, by all means this just meant that the other parasites knew more than he did.

"Are you interested on how he managed to break in or shall I just leave that subject there sir?" Elena asked rather sheepishly, trying to trace his eyes to the point that he was looking on the map.

He didn't answer, which Elena took as a 'Do I look interested?'. He seemed to be looking at a point in India. Not wanting to press the matter she simply stood at the table and gazed at all the different coloured blinking and solid lights. There were far fewer of them now than there were the last time she saw it, so he had found more materia in the meantime.

The sound of the lift suddenly roared into life outside the main chamber again. Elena chose this moment to find suitable quarters to stay in. The labyrinthine passages of the base seemed to go on forever however, and it took her a good quarter of an hour to find a vacant living space. The room was as it was in all the other Shinra bases, simple. A single bed, a desk of drawers and a mirror was all that the room contained. The walls a dull earthy colour, and two lights at either end.

She walked over to the mirror the better to speak to Francesca. _"Seems awfully short with you doesn't he? You think he suspects you?" _She asked in her French accent.

"_No, I could not sense any ill intent, he just seems frustrated. From what I can tell he suspects Reno more than anyone." _Elena replied silently just in case anybody was within earshot, this seemed to please Francesca.

X

"Well I'm keeping it and that is the end of that!" A man with long red hair said as he got out of the silver car. "I needn't remind you that it was me who got to it first so that makes it, if I remember our agreement, mine!"

"You know the boss is probably going to want it off you." A tall bald man with dark skin replied, his voice was very deep.

"As if he doesn't have enough already…" They walked over to the door through to the main room. Much to his horror Rufus was looking straight at them when they walked in, he had probably heard everything.

"And what Reno, is it that I am going to want off of you?" Rufus asked, walking slowly away from the map table.

Reno shifted his weight slightly. "Rude here and I found ourselves a summon boss." He informed him. To his great surprise, Rufus did not seem overly interested.

"Well you might as well tell me which one…" He said in exasperation, "…I'm having about as much luck here as I am finding a grain of sugar in the desert…" He was referring of course to the map table. On the word luck however, he subconsciously touched his arm.

"Leviathan." Rude replied in a monotone. "Found it at Niagara Falls, was hovering halfway down."

Rufus seemed vaguely interested. "Was kind of obvious it would be in a place like that I guess…" He touched his arm again, "…would have been easier to get that one than it was to get this one." A red orb surfaced on his arm.

"And that one is…?" Reno tentatively asked, taking a step closer.

To his utter amazement, Rufus then proceeded to use the materia. He aimed it straight at the place between where Reno and Rude stood, and from the ground beneath them emerged the Ice Queen herself, Shiva.

This was the first time either of them had seen a summon used in this world. "She doesn't just attack and then vanish sir?" Reno asked, looking at the blue skinned Shiva.

"No, which makes her overly more valuable here than it did back in our world. She can stay here for as long as I will her to…not sure what happens if she dies though." Rufus extracted a gun a pointed it straight at Shiva's forehead. "I'm not sure whether or not to test it…"

"I wouldn't…" Elena had just come back into the room, "…I can tell you exactly what happens."

Rufus immediately dropped his gun to his side. "How would you know?"

"You asked me to tail the others sir, I am not incapable at my job." She walked over and stood beside him, looking at the Ice Queen. "If you kill her you will go into a coma induced state for roughly two days, so I'd put the gun away if I were you."

"You gain complete control over summons here then…that's pretty cool!" Reno commented, walking to stand by the president and taking in the image of the docile Shiva, Rude soon followed suit. "Leviathan started to go on a slight rampage when we summoned it so we dismissed it immediately."

"It takes practice…" Rufus agreed, "…more you practice the easier it is." He dismissed Shiva, she vanished leaving a few icicles to fall to the floor.

"So what's our plan of action sir, you asked for us to all regroup here?" Elena prompted now that they were mostly present.

"I think we are closer to finding it, the fact that it wasn't in Fort Knox makes its location all the easier to discern." He was referring of course to the black materia.

"You think you know where it is then sir?" Reno asked, looking over at the map table and noticing that the black marker was no longer there.

"Almost certain." Rufus replied, walking back to his original spot at the table. "Just waiting for confirmation, the plan of action is to go after it with all haste and be sure to get there before Sephiroth does. Once we have done that we should be able to use it against him…"

This made the three Turks who were present slightly uneasy. "What do you mean by use it against him? Nobody can wield it except him." Elena pointed out, looking slightly concerned.

"You think I'm not aware of that Elena? Some things I choose not to share with any of you, rest assured that when we acquire the black materia, Sephiroth will never ever be able to use it, the tables in this battle shall be well and truly turned." He looked over at Reno and Rude. "Aside from the summon what other materia have you managed to find?"

"Strength…" Rude replied first, then he looked at Reno.

"Steal, it works really weird here though…" He surfaced the yellow orb on his arm, "…it doesn't aid you in stealing items, it allows you to steal thoughts and memory's, secrets and such."

Rufus looked intrigued. "And you tested it out on whom?"

"Rude of course!" Reno replied, smacking his fellow Turk on the upper back. "Was pretty annoyed at me I'll tell you!"

Rude shot him a look from behind his glasses of utter malice. Rufus looked as though he wanted to ask something, but thought better of it. Instead he turned his attention back to the map table. After a few moments however he spoke, "Any other information I should be made aware of?"

"Only that the American government is in disarray, the one sole survivor of Fort Knox is being questioned beyond belief, the secret service are utterly bewildered…and my host has developed bad athletes foot…other than that nothing new to report." Reno replied, the final comment actually earning a snort from Elena.

"What of the other parasites? Who is yet to be discovered?" Rufus asked the group at large.

Reno answered first. "From my intellect the known parasites are yet to find Barret Wallace, Cloud Strife and Cid Highwind."

Rude was next. "Same as Reno."

Elena, sensing an opportunity to look even less suspicious decided to outshine her so called colleagues. "I have different intellect sir," She began, grabbing his attention immediately, "I know that the others have made contact with Barret Wallace and are only shy of Cloud and Cid."

Rufus smiled slightly. "Where is Barret, this is good news…" He looked down at the map, then back up at her when she did not answer immediately, "…well?"

"I don't know an exact location, only that his host is Spanish." She unnecessarily pointed at Spain on the map. Reno made a blinking blue light appear on the country.

The lift outside roared into life once more. Everybody present was looking at the door through to the antechamber, waiting to see who it could be this time. Moments later, Tseng walked through the door confidently and strode up to the table in the centre.

"I have found it sir, ninety nine per-cent sure." Was his greeting to the president, who immediately looked very interested.

"It is in Egypt at the pyramids. There is an entrance located at the base of one of them, materia respondent. Was foolish of us not to see it before, the similarity between the pyramids and the temple of the ancients is quite striking!" He looked at Rufus who made the black marker reappear in the said location, "there is a problem though sir, I was not the only one investigating the area at the time…"

Rufus looked at him. "Who else was there Tseng? Sephiroth?" He looked worried now.

"No it was that airship designer Cid, he was there in a helicopter foolishly not in his host form. Was an easy mistake to make, he didn't see me I don't think, but then I can't be certain… either way they know it is there too, he will no doubt have made contact with the others by now."

Rufus suddenly made all of the other lackeys round the table who were under the influence of manipulation magic leave. "Then we head off at once, I can get a chopper here in no time to collect us all."

"There was one other thing sir…" Tseng began very carefully, "…I believe I have information most valuable to all of us, something which we should all take on board."

The rest of the Turks seemed very intrigued. Without warning, Tseng fired a violent bolt of lightning straight at Elena, she screamed and was knocked off her feet. Blood began to pour from her hands where she went to break her fall.

"I've found our rat sir…" Tseng announced just as the rest of them were preparing to attack him, they stayed their hands however, "…saw her with the others helping them, double crosser!"

Rufus walked over to stand above Elena. "Is this true?"

Elena looked up at him. "Of course not…" Suddenly she flung her materia arm forward and sent a huge spew of toxic venom right at the side of his face which did not bear the eye patch. He fell to the floor in pain, just as Elena sent another stream of venom right at Tseng, which he dodged.

Tseng pulled out a sword which was attached to his belt, Reno his combat rod, and Rude prepared his fists. "Now Elena think about this…" Tseng began. She was keeping a close eye on his materia hand in case he attempted lightning again, "…you are outnumbered three to one, you have no hope of winning."

Rude slowly sidestepped over to the president to check his condition. He used the sleeve of his blue suit to wipe away the traces of venom. Rufus' once good eye had turned a startling pearl white.

"None of you get it do you? We can't win alone, we need their help!" She attempted to reason with them, Reno and Rude seemed mildly interested, Tseng however was having none of it.

"You are a fool Elena, and you will die for what you have done," He sent another bolt of lightning at her which she managed to dodge, mainly due to her luck.

Suddenly before all of them, the Ice Queen Shiva materialised out of the earth and stood between the three males and Elena. Rufus got to his feet. "And now Elena, I can see you as you die…goodbye."

Shiva pounced at Elena. She was far too quick for her, before she knew it Elena was up against the back wall, her hands uselessly pinned at her sides. And then the most painful sensation began to creep over her body. Looking down, she saw her wrists where the summon was grabbing her had begun to freeze completely. The freezing sensation spread from this point up her arms, over all of her torso and eventually to her face. She was completely frozen solid, an ice statue of Elena.

Shiva released her wrists, held out her right hand in front of her, and snapped her fingers. Elena shattered into a thousand tiny pieces right before their very eyes. A variation on what Shiva usually did back on Gaia.

But then something happened which they had not expected. The materia which Elena had been wearing appearing in front of where she had just stood, it hovered there silently for a few moments, and then exploded with almighty force.

All of them were injured, but not gravely. Tseng quickly proceeded over to the president and attempted to heal the wound which Elena had left him with. As expected however it was non responsive to the materia, they would need the Heal materia in order to fix it, and by the time they found that it would be permanent damage.

"It matters not…" Rufus said, getting to his feet, "…I can see through the eyes of Shiva, I will just have to keep her active from now on." He walked over to the Ice Queen and looked at her, supposedly to check the damage that had been done to his face. "That evil little…did anybody know she had poison magic?"

They all shook their heads, then remembered that he couldn't see them behind Shiva. "She kept that one to herself sir!" Reno said aloud.

"Lot of good it did her…" Tseng said, walking into the line of sight of Shiva the better for Rufus to see him, "…brutal way to kill her though sir?"

"Does that really matter?" Rufus said agitated, turning and facing Tseng, staring at him with the now blank eye. "We need to get to Egypt, that's all I care about right now. If Cid has managed to inform the others then it is only a matter of time before they show up and attempt to get the materia themselves. The race is on, no doubt Sephiroth will know it is there by now too, he does always seem to be one step ahead."

The sound of the helicopter could be heard outside. Shiva turned her head in the direction of the antechamber and Rufus began to walk. It must have been odd, seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, yet still in control of your own actions.

Shiva was quick to follow him, after all if he walked out of sight he would be blind once more. The Turks followed, and the five figures stepped onto the slow moving elevator.

The chopper was hovering just above the sand, causing a slight sandstorm effect. Rufus and Shiva walked over to it, Tseng quick behind them. Rufus seemed to be having difficulty stepping on board.

Tseng jumped on and held out a hand. "Allow me sir…" Rufus grabbed it and he was hoisted on board. Seconds later they were joined by Reno Rude and Shiva.

"I must say…" Reno began as the chopper took off, "…it is weird keeping a summon as company."

"Well get used to it, she stays as long as I'm blind, which may be forever…" Rufus seemed a little defeated, the fire which he had had in his gut whilst taking down Elena seemed to have vanished.

"How long will it take to get to Egypt sir?" Rude asked, overlooking the huge desert they had just departed from.

"Around thirteen hours. That gives the others an advantage, but then luck may be on our side…" He touched his arm subconsciously again, it was as though he never noticed himself doing it, a side effect of the luck materia perhaps? He handed his phone over to Tseng, "You know who to call, get us transport for when we touch down in Egypt, you know the way there better than any of us."

Tseng couldn't help but laugh. "It's pretty much a tourist attraction sir, we won't be able to miss it, unless of course Sephiroth has already got there and they have vanished just like the temple of the ancients did…I highly doubt it though…"

* * *

A/N- Please review let us know what you think =D. Next chapter soon, only eight to go! Til next time,

R&A


	23. His Host

**-Chapter Twenty-Three-**

**His Host**

Present.

Alex had thrown her phone across the room and ran into her en-suite, locked the door, and gazed into the mirror. Tifa was in an utter frenzy, looking at her as though she was completely mad.

"_You have to call Charles, Savina, Shaun, anyone! You can't just let this slide you can't!" _She shouted at her, making Alex grab her head in pain again. Tifa seemed to have resigned to the fact that Alex was not going to give in and let her take over. _"Alex please listen to reason, he may be your best friend but…"_

"I am not going to call them…I can't…not yet…" Tears were running freely down her face, "he won't know that I know…so surely there is no immediate threat?"

"_That makes no difference, Alex this could give us the edge in this battle, we could have the distinct advantage needed to turn the tables sitting on your bedroom floor!" _She was referring of course to the collage. Tifa looked as though she was determined. _"But Alex, we cannot fight him alone, we need the others!"_

"I told you…" She whispered, talking telepathically just seemed like too much effort at the moment, "…we are not calling them."

Alex then suddenly realised that she would be seeing Josh tonight at their fencing practice. She didn't know if she could go, or if it would be wise to go. Would she be able to face her best friend knowing this terrible secret that he has kept from her.

"Oh god…" Alex said, suddenly realising the gravity of the situation, "…all those people, he has just been letting him…"

"_You don't know that!" _Tifa said, which surprised Alex. This did not stop her vomiting into the sink before her though, the thought of all those murders played through her head like a film stuck on an infinite repeat. _"Alex…god forbid I can't believe I'm saying this…go along to fencing tonight, but use extreme caution. Have your phone ready, see if he knows what you know…"_

Alex looked up at Tifa in surprise. She was not sure if she meant well by this or not. She was glad that Tifa had stopped persisting that she call the others, but at the same time still worried, what would happen tonight? Maybe the whole thing was some kind of mistake, a hallucination caused from all the chaos in the world.

Splashing her face with cold water, Alex then proceeded to unlock the door and head back into her room. Tentatively she walked over to the a2 collage on the floor and looked at the centremost print, the print that should have contained a photo of her best friend. She looked at it for a good five minutes in complete silence. There was no getting away from it, the figure in the photo was not going to change.

X

"_Oh but this is just glorious!" _Sephiroth said delighted in Josh's head. _"The most powerful summon magic embedded in our arm and now this, the day can't get much better!" _He sounded the happiest Josh had ever heard him.

Josh said absolutely nothing. He kept expecting to wake up from this nightmare, it couldn't be real. Sephiroth was still gloating in his head, but Josh was so out of focus at the moment he could not register anything that he was saying, it was like someone was talking to him through a very badly tuned walkie-talkie.

"_Oh tonight is going to be most enjoyable…" _He finally made out.

"_We aren't going…" _Josh replied, finding the energy to pick up his phone and pocket it. He suddenly got it straight back out however and began to text Alex.

**Alex xD**

_Run, get as far away from here as you can, he knows who you are and he_

His hand suddenly constricted and crushed the phone into a crunched up mess. Josh had known this would be a foolish attempt, Sephiroth's power over him had been growing stronger and stronger ever since his suicide effort. It was as though he was dedicating more of his time to learning how to take over effectively. It was this therefore that surprised Josh, why had he not taken over now?

"_Oh the time is not right just yet, let's just let this pan out the way things have already been planned…" _Sephiroth said in answer to the unasked question.

Josh threw the destroyed phone at the wall. He wanted to scream, but shock seemed to be constricting his throat. He looked at the clock, there were two long hours between now and the fencing class. What could he do in those two hours to prevent things from happening…?

X

The girls changing rooms were filled with the always eager fencing students getting ready for their upcoming lesson. Alex had always been at the centre of attention since she made the wager with their teacher.

"The nationals though, you could be representing our country in your category!" One of her fellow classmates said to her in awe, obviously not noticing that Alex was not completely with it, "And you would soooo win!"

Alex had just finished zipping up her white top. "Well, you never know…" She replied in a half-hearted manner, "…we'll have to wait and see." She picked up her mask, sword, and walked out of the changing rooms towards the sports hall.

Only a handful of people were there at the moment, Alex had decided to leave early thinking her nerves would get the better of her if she didn't. She looked around for Josh, mercifully he wasn't there yet. _"Or maybe he isn't going to show…" _She suggested to Tifa, though this was wishful thinking.

She walked over to the benches where people were sitting talking. As usual people started questioning her about her hopes for the nationals, which she really did not feel like answering. Her phone began to vibrate in her pocket, though she did not answer it. As Tifa had instructed she had kept it on her just in case.

Their instructed Sophie walked into the hall. "Evening everyone." She greeted. Everybody returned the greeting.

"_He isn't here…" _Alex said in relief, _"…he must have…" _

At that moment however, Josh walked in through the sports hall doors and walked over to the benches, apologising for his lateness on the way over. He looked at Alex, and she couldn't help but think he looked a little bit nervous. Hoping beyond hope that she was going to wake up soon, she shifted over and allowed him to take a seat next to her.

"Fall asleep?" She asked, a slight quaver in her voice. Josh did not seem to pick up on this however.

"No just got talking to someone." He replied, somewhat ironically. "Haven't missed anything have I?"

"Nope." Alex replied, mastering the nerves in her voice. Her phone continued to vibrate in her pocket, whoever it was had to be desperate to get hold of her.

"Ok so nothing to fanciful today, get yourselves into pairs for some warm-up rounds and we'll take it from there." Sophie instructed, everybody got up and started pairing up.

"Hope you don't mind I said I'd go with Joanne…" Alex said suddenly to Josh.

"Oh no not at all…" Josh replied, fighting the urge to be violently sick, "…I'll find someone." He was somewhat relieved her wasn't against Alex.

However the warm-up rounds came and went faster than the both of them would have liked. Before they knew it, Sophie was talking animatedly about a tournament which was coming up in London which she wanted to put several people down for. To everyone's surprise she did not suggest Alex, but this may have been down to her being put forward for the nationals.

Alex looked over at Josh and was surprised to see him already looking her way out of the corner of her eye. _"Hang in there Alex…it doesn't look like he knows, but hang in there…" _Tifa encouraged her, regretting that she had allowed Alex to come here alone.

Sophie proceeded to ask for volunteers to demonstrate new techniques and go over old ones, then asked them to pair up again and practice them. Much to Alex's delight she again was not paired with Josh but with a new started she had never met before. Alex obviously went extremely easy on her, trying to help the newcomer even though her mind was not completely in the game.

"_He doesn't know, he can't, if he did then he would have done something by now surely?" _Alex asked Tifa nervously, there was no reply and Alex did not feel like searching her mind for an answer.

How she managed to get through the class without getting paired up with Josh she never knew. The long hour and a half lesson passed as slowly as an ant could push a brick across a desert. Several of the students opted to stay behind for extra practice after Sophie had left, including the new starter.

"So Alex…" Josh began, walking over to her before she had chance to leave the hall, "…do I get that rematch against you?"

Alex almost dropped her mask which she had held under her arm. "Well I'm kind of tired at the moment mate I wanted to head home."

"Oh come on!" Josh said, obviously rather keen for it, "What harm can it do, I won't hold it against you if I beat you whilst you're tired nationals girl!"

Josh could not stop the words coming out of his mouth. Sephiroth's control over him was just far too great now, he was being merely used as a puppet. Alex looked at him, considering the situation, then was struck by an idea.

"I just need to make a call to my parents to let them know I will be late, then we can ok?" Josh nodded at her. Alex's phone had been vibrating in her pocket all through the lesson.

She checked her phone and saw that it was Charles who had been calling her, she waited a couple of moments and sure enough it began to ring again, she walked away from Josh. "Alex speaking." She said as she answered.

"Alex what the hell have you been doing! We have the location of the bl…"

"Reeve listen, I need you and everyone at the sports hall at my college now!" Alex cut him off, " 'He' is here, if you catch my drift…"

Reeve went extremely silent. "Hold out for half an hour, we'll be there." He hung up. Alex walked back into the hall, thinking of delay tactics.

"Right let me get a drink from the water cooler then we can go." She said to Josh, noticing how funny it must have looked for her to not simply do that before returning.

"_Tifa what the hell do we do!" _Alex asked on the verge of tears, _"I can't do this…"_

"_Yes you can, just hold out for a few minutes and the others will be here!" _She assured her. Alex downed a cold cup of water, turned round, and re-entered the hall…

"Ready?" Josh said as she approached, donning his mask.

"Always…" Alex replied, putting on her mask as well. She considered for a moment how lucky it was she would be concealing her face.

They both walked slowly over to the long blue mat, each going to either end. Several of the students that had stayed behind stopped practicing and looked over at the both of them, knowing that they were two good fighters.

"Someone begin the match, we'll make it best of seven…" Alex called out, to which the newcomer came over.

"Ready…" She said. Alex put her right foot in front of her left. "Begin play…en-guard."

Alex raised her sword to fighting stance and began to edge forward towards her opponent. The point which followed was utterly spectacular, the two of them seemed to be able to read each other's movements perfectly, blocking and dodging beyond the skill the likes that the spectators had never seen.

The point lasted for roughly a minute, which in fencing terms was a very long time indeed. Alex landed a hit on Josh's torso in the end though. There was applause from the students who were spectating. They walked back to their starting ends and the newcomer set the next point in motion.

It went on for even longer than the first point, at one stage Alex made a block where the tips of the two swords met, causing them both to curve inwards, a move which nobody had seen used before. A minute and a half of tense fighting passed before Josh finally landed a blow on Alex's shoulder. One all, not that either of them cared about the score. More applause from the students.

Both of them looked as though they were feeling the burn already. "Two minute break?" Alex suggested, removing her mask, Josh followed suit.

"Suits me…" He replied simply, walking over to the benches and sitting down.

"_At least now we know why he is so good…" _Tifa pointed out, _"He must be holding back, we shouldn't be any match for him."_

The two minutes passed quicker than hoped. Alex kept looking over at the door, hoping someone would run through it any second. Josh got back to his feet and put his mask back on. Alex returned to her starting position.

The fight resumed, and as if following a pattern the point went on for even longer. It did not end as anybody had expected however, Josh had made an extremely odd move which had resulted in his sword slicing a light cut in the back of Alex's hand, causing her to drop her sword. The fight stopped for a few moments as she looked at it, then she picked her sword back up and returned to fighting stance.

Josh did not apologise for the attack. _"Right…" _Tifa began, and then an overwhelming sensation overtook Alex. Tifa had taken control, the mask was the only thing keeping her from peoples view. _"Time to play dirty…"_

Without waiting for next point to be set in motion she lunged at Josh, breaking the correct footing which you were meant to keep during fencing, something which the spectators were quick to point out. Josh did not seem to care however, he blocked her attacks with ease.

Both of them swung blow after blow at each other, moving off of the designated mat and using all of the space the hall granted them. Tifa knew she would not be able to do him any serious damage with the fencing sword but continued a relentless assault none the less.

Josh began to back up towards the stacked rows of seating as they fought, stepping onto them. Tifa followed suit, being sure not to let him gain a distinct height advantage. The crowd who were at first shocked by the lack of dignified fighting were now watching with great interest, some of them cheering them on.

Josh had just deflected a swipe of Alex's and then made a violent kick at her chest, knocking her backwards and almost off of her feet. The crowd went silent for a moment, wondering what could have caused such a violent move. Tifa was not at all put off, she continued her attack.

The both of them jumped down off of the benches, still showing swordplay the likes of which nobody had ever seen. Tifa grabbed Josh's sword hand, as did Josh with her. The two of them were locked in a grapple. Josh then head-butted her with all the force he could muster, dazing her for a few seconds.

With a force unlike any she had been able to find before Tifa swung at Josh's sword knocking it out of his hands. Josh did an incredible jumping kick which disarmed Tifa as well. It was now a fist fight. One of the students had ran to get Sophie who was still in the changing rooms.

"What the hell is going on!" She shouted as she saw the two fighting, and then it happened.

Tifa made an almighty punch at Josh's mask, knocking it clean off of his head, and revealing not Josh, but the cruel face of Sephiroth. Silence from the crowd as they took in the impossible nature of the situation. Moments later the fight resumed, and Sephiroth made a kick at Tifa's face, knocking her mask clean off also and revealing her to all present.

There were a few tense moments where the two parasites looked at each other. Two mortal enemies sharing the bodies of two best friends, the cruelty of the situation seemed to sink in to both of them. The cat was out of the bag now, the parasites had been seen.

Tifa extended her materia arm and made a jet of flame burst at Sephiroth. Several of the onlookers screamed, others fainted. Sephiroth was knocked back, but managed to stay on his feet.

"Well if that's the way you want to play…" He said smugly. His arm glowed a vivid green and the floor around Tifa began to tremble. Knowing what was about to happen she jumped out of the way, just as from the earth a huge stalagmite erupted. It would have killed her. Sephiroth repeated the magic, and it wasn't until Tifa managed to land a punch on him that his concentration was broken.

His power in this world did seem considerably weaker than on Gaia, though his use of magic was still formidable. Tifa shot another jet of flame at him, this time he was ready however, he had created a barrier which reflected the spell straight back at her, knocking her off her feet.

Sephiroth walked over to her and prepared to use the earth magic once more. "Pathetic…" He muttered.

At that precise moment the door to the hall burst open and the sound of gunfire riddled the air. Sephiroth was hit straight in his materia bearing arm before erecting another barrier to protect himself. In the doorway stood both Reeve and Yuffie, Reeve with a gun pointing straight at Sephiroth.

"So I only get the pleasure of killing three of you tonight…no matter…" Sephiroth began as a green aura repaired his arm, "…I shall hunt you all one by one." He extracted from his arm a red orb, and then did something very strange.

He tossed it into the air where it hovered for a moment. Then from it shot thirteen red beams of light in a perfect circle at the floor. Tifa got to her feet and ran over to her companions, the rest of the onlookers had long since scarpered.

"Just as useless here as you were there…goodbye, companions of Cloud…" Sephiroth made a break for it through the street door at the back of the hall. All three made to go after him, but at that precise moment thirteen armour clad knights burst forth from the ground. The knights of the round now stood in formation before the three of them.

"There is no way we can take on all of them…" Reeve said, the knights were ominously standing still, "we need to destroy the materia." The red orb was wildly spinning and emitting an eerie glow.

Reeve took a step forward, and the Knights all readied their weapons. "Just avoid getting hit…" Tifa said, walking next to Reeve, "…that's our main priority." She fired two jets of flames at the knights, knocking two of them backwards, the others began to strike.

Even before they started they knew it was a one way fight. It was all they could do to duck, jump and dodge all of the knights attacks, it was impossible for them to get close to the materia. Reeve tried firing some bullets at it when he had the chance, but it had no impact.

Tifa was kicked to the floor by who looked to be the head knight, he then raised his sword ready to strike, this was the end. Suddenly however, miraculously, the nights went completely still, a second passed…and then the fell to the floor, clearly dead.

Standing below the point where the materia had been hovering was a fourth person, a person who had amazingly just shattered the summon materia, had saved all of them from certain death…

* * *

A/N- Next chapter up soon, let us know what you thought of this one! Criticism as always is taken on board as long as it is constructive!

R&A


	24. Clouds Return

Next chapter is here guys, sorry about wait lack of internet! Enjoy!

* * *

**-Chapter Twenty-Four-**

**Clouds Return**

So Vincent's prediction was true. The parasites had been revealed, and what was worse there was photo evidence to back up all those present at the fight which had taken place between Tifa and Sephiroth. Fortunately, though it was of small comfort, these were the only two of whom people knew the hosts of, everybody else remained a secret.

This of course meant a lot of awkward questioning for Alex and Josh's families. Obviously neither of them could return to their homes now, both of them were under very close watch from the authorities. Alex's phone had rang time and time again with calls from her parents, Reeve however had implored her not to answer as the call would likely be traced.

Alex was now staying with Savina in London and having to keep an extremely low profile. Her face was all over the news as was Tifa's. At first the country had taken the news as a joke, but when it persisted however, the reality of the situation seemed to have begun to sink in.

Savina looked at the TV from the sofa which she was sat in and saw Josh and Sephiroth's face flash up. They did not bother unmuting it, they had heard the report several times over. Alex was still having difficulty accepting that all this time it had been her best friend playing host to the most powerful parasite in existence.

She looked down at the new phone which Reeve had acquired for her, wondering if she could risk a call to anybody she knew besides Shaun. Fortunately for him he was still yet to be discovered.

Alex looked over at Savina. "So where do we go from here? We can't just sit around and do nothing!"

She looked up at Alex, "My instructions from Reeve were to keep you here for the time being whilst we work out a plan of action. He and Cloud should be with us shortly."

Alex kicked the nearest wall, and then wished she hadn't due to the pain. She could not stand just doing nothing when the situation had escalated beyond control. "You didn't think this was going to happen either, did you Savina?"

She shook her head. "I think like you I was hoping Vincent was talking out of his…well never mind. The point is it has happened and there is no amount of manipulation we can do to undo that now." She looked up at Alex, "Why didn't you tell us the second you knew who Sephiroth was? We could have stopped this then and there…"

Alex couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty, she defended herself none the less however. "What would you have done, he is my best friend, I have known him for years and you would have slaughtered him."

Savina didn't answer, Alex knew that this was because of the truth which her words held. She began to pace the room, running her fingers through her hair, the events of the previous few hours replaying over and over in her mind's eye. It was at that moment that the two of them heard footsteps approaching the door.

Seconds later three people walked in. Reeve, followed by Shaun who ran straight up to Alex and hugged her. The final person was Cloud Strife, tall and slender with long spiked blonde hair. Tifa began requesting to take over, which Alex refused.

"We won't be staying here long, I have a jet being prepared for us, we move out in two hours max…" Reeve addressed them all, walking over to the armchair and collapsing into it.

Cloud walked over to the sofa and sat next to Savina, who was slowly transforming back into the ninja, Yuffie. "So this is where everyone has been hiding…" He joked, looking around at everyone.

Alex finally let Tifa take over. "You're late." She said to him, a smile on her face.

He shrugged. "Better late than never right?" Everyone present laughed slightly.

"We have time before we need to leave, why don't you share with us what you know Cloud…" Reeve suggested, everyone agreed with him.

"Well," He began, leaning forward slightly and resting his elbows on his knees, "my host is from Japan, that's why I have been a little out of sync with the rest of the world. It was only recently when I saw the news about the break in of Fort Knox that I decided to leave my post. I was laying low, I didn't know if all of you had come through to this world like I had…I am sorry…"

He looked down at the floor. "Anyway when that hit the news I knew you were here too, I could sense it, nobody else could have broken into there." He looked around at them all. "I knew it had to be him, and then something inside me told me to travel here to England, that this is where I would find you, that the time was now right to make a move."

Everybody was taking in his story with great interest. "But that isn't how our instinct works…" Tifa began, a little confused, "…it has always been we sense when another of us is either close by or publicised."

"Yeah that's how you found me! Saw my host in the papers…" Yuffie chirped in cheerfully.

"Perhaps my 'instinct' works differently?" Cloud suggested to the room at large.

"Well we are always prepared for new surprises, the thought of becoming lenient with our situation is laughable…" Reeve added, remembering just how much things had changed over the last few months, "…continue?"

Before Cloud could say another word however, Reeve's phone began to vibrate. He looked at it and saw it was Vincent. He flipped it open, there were a few short exchanges between them, and then he snapped the phone shut.

"Sorry about that, Vincent has a plan, it's going out on a limb but it may just work…"

X

"I don't care who they are or where they supposedly come from, the point is they are quite clearly dangerous and need to be stopped." The prime minister said to his advisors, walking towards his office. "If we don't track down Ms West soon then there will be panic from the public, we need to get results and we need them fast."

"Sir we have MI5 and MI6 working on it as we speak, there is no way of knowing if she has slipped out of the country undetected…"

"Tighten security on all forms of travel. Anybody attempting to leave the country either commercially or privately is to be checked and double checked for identification until she is found…" They reached his office door, "…now if you will excuse me I need to call Washington and inform them of our intentions."

He went in his office and closed the door, locking it behind him. The prime minister tilted his head forwards for a few moments closing his eyes, of all the times something like this could happen it had to be when his party made office? He pinched the back of his hand for what must have been the tenth time that day.

"You aren't dreaming Mr Prime Minister…" A voice said from behind him, he spun around and was facing a tall man in a red cape, sitting with his feet up behind his desk, drumming his fingers upon it, "…and believe me I wish you were."

He spun round and tried to unlock the door, but found that he couldn't, then he began to shout. "Help! Help!"

"Nobody can hear you, I have sealed the room, nobody can get in or out and nobody can hear inside." The man held up his right arm which was glowing an ominous green colour. "No matter how hard you try, I'm not here with ill intent anyway."

The prime minister sized up the man, wondering if he was lying. "Then why the guile in getting into my office, why not just approach me by public means?"

"Because Mr Prime Minister in your current state of panic I don't think my approach would have been met with praise…" The man got up from the red leather chair and walked round to the front of the desk, and then to within two feet of the prime minister, he held out his hand, "…Vincent Valentine is my name."

He chose not to shake Vincent's hand, which he lowered soon after offering. "What do you want?" The minister asked, sounding very angry.

"I'm here to shed some light on the situation your country is in." Vincent replied, moving back over to the desk and leaning on it. "First of all I must implore you to stop searching for Alex West and to begin searching with all haste for her friend Josh Adams. He is the real threat."

The minister took a step closer to him. "I have people looking out for him as well, but why should I believe that he is the threat, from what I heard this Alex West and her…her…"

"Parasite." Vincent finished for him.

"Parasite!" The minister added, "Can create fire and use it against others from thin air! Don't tell me that isn't dangerous!" He began to pace the room. "And what do you mean by parasite?"

"Mr Prime Minister that is what I am, that is what I am here to explain to you. There are not many of us in the world, and we haven't been here long…" He took a step closer to the pacing minister.

"That doesn't explain exactly what you are though!" The minister shouted back.

"We are souls living off the bodies of others, body sharing if you will but with two distinct physical differences and personality's." Vincent proceeded to change between his host form and back again, "You see?"

The minister suddenly felt very light headed and pinched the back of his hand for the final time to check he wasn't going to wake up. "But it's not possible…"

"Anything's possible…" Vincent replied, a smile creeping onto his face, "…Mr Prime Minister there is much I have to tell you but it may be easier simply to show you…"

The minister looked a little confused. "Show me?"

"I can leave my current host and go inside your mind, you will see everything that has happened to myself and other parasites up to this point, it should let you make a more rational decision as to what to do…" Vincent explained.

"And you will leave straight after?" The minister said suspiciously.

"Of course…" Vincent replied, "…now you must take my hand…"

He stretched out his hand again as though for a handshake. The minister tentatively took it, and Vincent looked straight into his eyes. "This will feel a little weird…"

Vincent closed his eyes, and an extraordinary site met the minister's eyes. It looked as though a silver something was forcing its way up Vincent's throat. He opened his mouth, and from it a silver wisp burst from it and shot straight at the minister. Vincent had gone, the man now standing before the minister was a tall black haired man who fell to the floor.

"_I'm still here Mr Prime Minister." _A voice which he recognised to be Vincent's said to him, this time he couldn't help it, the minister fell to the floor unconscious.

_Standing in a black void, the minister looked around, then quite suddenly, a whirl of colour met his eyes. He was at the Great Wall of China, then quite suddenly he was at the tower of London, then Fort Knox, and then…_

The minister woke with a start. _"You understand now, just what we have been through? You understand the threat which we face, the threat which the world faces?" _Vincent's voice said to him.

"_I understand…" _The minister replied, getting to his feet, he then felt as though something was forcing its way up his throat. The silver wisp shot from it and back into the black haired man on the floor. The minister fell to his knees, weakened.

Vincent Valentine was getting to his feet. "Set your sights on the right person now prime minister, you have the knowledge, you know what we all face. The decision now I leave to you."

The minister looked down at the floor, thinking. "But why are you here at all!" He looked up, Vincent had vanished.

X

"That's the long and short of it, like I said nothing interesting, I have merely been laying low…" Cloud concluded to the rest of them. They were all looking at him interested.

"You said you found materia?" Yuffie asked, getting excited at the word as she always did.

Cloud produced two orbs from his arm, a yellow and a red. "Typhoon." He held up the red one, "Almost caused chaos when I summoned that, and mime…" He held up the yellow one, "…haven't used this one yet need to be near someone with materia."

"It doesn't work any differently in this world then?" Reeve asked curiously.

"No, probably about the only one that doesn't…" Cloud replied, replacing both of the orbs in his arm.

Reeve's phone began to ring again, he flipped it open. "Go ahead…" He said into it.

He was talking for a good ten minutes to whoever it was before hanging up the phone. "If all has gone well they should be ending their search on you…or putting the prime minister in a strait-jacket…" He looked at all of their puzzled faces, "…I'll tell you on the way, we are going to have to get moving, our jet awaits. Tifa, you and Alex try and lay low, Vincent has managed to make the leader of this country see reason, but how long the order will take to go out is anyone's guess…"

X

Three hours previous.

"Can I get you anything else hunny?" The woman addressed the young looking man.

"Just keep them coming…" Josh replied, his arm glowing yellow.

"_We lay low here until the time is right and then we move out, getting past security at the airport should be easy with this materia, but it would be foolish to act too early…" _Sephiroth said to Josh.

"_I hope they beat those damn things, if you have killed her, I will not stop until I kill you…" _Josh replied, every inch of his thoughts laced with malice.

"_Well you won't know because I left them rogue, I have no control over them, believe me if I did they would be dead already…" _Sephiroth laughed quietly in his head, _"…it is in your interest to not make any rash moves however, unless you want to spend the rest of your miserable existence in a padded cell?"_

Josh looked up at the TV which had just been flicked on by the barmaid. She looked surprised to see the news. Much to Josh's horror, Alex's face was on the headline. It was not as though he had not expected this, but it did not look as though she was dead. The two words 'Manhunt Issued' popped up beside her photo.

The television was on mute so he could not hear what the female newsreader was saying, moments later however, his face popped up next to those two words. Being sure to keep the barmaid under the influence of manipulation, she walked over to the TV and turned it off.

The damage it seemed had been done already though. Two men looked at Josh with great interest from across the bar. "Oi, turn that back on would you Jane?" They called to the barmaid.

"_Oh brilliant…" _Sephiroth said to Josh, and to his horror he sounded slightly excited, _"…go ahead, let her turn it back on, make sure she turns it up as well."_

Jane the barmaid walked back over and switched it on, then turned it up so the reporter could be heard. "The public are warned that the two teenagers are extremely dangerous and if seen not to be approached. Anybody with the whereabouts of either should contact the police immediately."

"_You know what Josh, you can have this one, have it on me, we share fighting ability after all…" _Sephiroth laughed. And then it happened, finally after months of fighting, Josh's mind completely broke.

One of the two men that had looked at Josh before pulled out his phone and began to dial. Josh smashed the glass he was holding on the bar, picked up the largest shard and threw it at the man's hand. He dropped the phone at once, nursing the gash in his flesh.

Josh felt someone grab him around the neck from behind. He laughed, whoever this was simply had no idea… He grabbed the arm and slowly, almost lovingly, pulled it away from his neck, then with absurd ease he snapped it. The man fell to his knees in agony.

Josh got up off of the barstool he was sat on and looked at him. He extended his hand and touched the man's face, "There there, let me make that better for you…" He grabbed his head and twisted, snapping his neck with a horrible crack!

The crowded bar was in panic, many people running towards the door. Upon opening it however they were faced with a translucent blue barrier. One person foolishly tried to run through it, and to everyone's horror the barrier seemed to merely absorb their whole being.

The barmaid who was still under manipulation poured Josh another drink. He picked it up, watching everybody running in the pandemonium. People were attempting to call the authorities, however Josh's barrier prevented that. He drank his drink in one, looking at the bar.

"Any volunteers for who's next?" Josh addressed the room at large. Many people had broken down in tears. Suddenly he felt a piercing pain in his left shoulder after a loud bang had sounded. One of the men from the bar had a gun, and it was pointing right at him.

Josh did not scream in pain, he merely looked down at the wound. "…I liked this shirt…" He said sarcastically. The man fired another shot at him, but to no avail, there was the sound like a gong being struck, and the bullet reflected back at him, hitting him square between the eyes. He fell to the floor.

Everybody else was huddled together in a corner of the bar. Josh looked at them all, how pathetic they all seemed, the couples, the old men who obviously had nothing better to do, some teenagers, and a clearly pregnant woman. He got Jane to hand him a bottle of Vodka from behind the bar. He opened it and poured it over the bar and what was remaining over the floor.

Jane then handed him a cigarette lighter. Several of the onlookers cried for mercy. "Mercy?" Josh asked, smiling, "…Afraid I'm not familiar with the word…" He set the liquid alight, then walked towards the barrier. He passed through it with ease. Looking back he saw several people attempt the same, to no avail.

He watched as the bar was engulfed in flames for a few minutes. He could hear sirens of what must have undoubtedly been the fire brigade. Josh turned his back on the building and walked away slowly.

"_Nice to see you and I are finally on the same page…" _Sephiroth said to him, for he had not taken any kind of control during this.

"_Indeed…now, the black materia…" _Josh replied, hearing an explosion from the bar behind him, _"…lets hurry."_

* * *

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnnn... Hehe. Hope you liked it guys. Reviews appreciated! Til next time,

R&A


	25. Black Materia

Sorry for slow update, enjoy the chapter!

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**-Chapter Twenty-Five-**

**Black Materia**

"So there we have it, I believe this will be our best bet by far, if not then at least we will have the largest of the three searched first. If we are in luck however, we should be able to tell relatively early on which of them contains the materia." Reeve explained, shutting off the monitor of the television which had previously depicted the three pyramids of Giza.

"How big is the interior of the grand pyramid?" Tifa asked, pacing around the jet apparently restless.

"Well according to the information we found on the internet the inside is not as big as you would anticipate, it is made up of three areas the biggest of which is the gallery." Reeve answered, but then said, "Consider however what we were faced with underneath the Great Wall, that was not meant to be there. We must expect the unexpected, if a summon materia can alter its surroundings and guard itself so effectively then the black materia certainly will be able to." He thought back to the temple of the ancients, something about his reminiscing must have shown on his face.

"If getting hold of it is as difficult as it was last time then we have to be prepared for the long haul." Cloud voiced, "it's not going to be easy…"

Everybody seemed to be running through their mind what they were about to undergo. The whole thing seemed like odd de ja vu to Cloud, something which he could not shake off of his mind. "What if history repeats itself? What if he just gets it again and summons meteor?"

"We shall face that problem if and when we come to it." Reeve replied, popping his ears as the plane went into its descent. "When we get it however we destroy it immediately, no faffing about trying to keep it from him."

Everybody agreed, remembering the terrible consequences that this had caused last time. After a few minutes the jet touched town and came to a halt, everybody reverted to their host forms. They got out one after the other, each being hit hard by the heat which they were met with. "Welcome to Bawiti, Egypt." Charles announced to them all as the last of them got off the plane. "Half an hour's journey to the pyramids, you won't be able to miss them…"

They all walked over to a waiting jeep and got in, as normal Reeve driving. The sweltering heat which they were all faced with seemed to be making them extremely lethargic, something which they would not need to worry about too much when inside the pyramid, if indeed the materia was inside.

"So Charles…" Alex began, who was riding shotgun, "…how did we locate the materia in the first place?"

"Well," He began, having to shout slightly over the engine noise, "we have checked the pyramids before, they seemed like an obvious location. When Vincent went on about the materia still coming through we decided to keep an eye on them."

"And now we know for sure it is here?" Alex asked.

"One hundred per cent, our man's instinct went berserk, it is too strong a feeling to be able to pinpoint which tomb it is in however, that is the only problem." On the horizon they saw the three pyramids appear. "The largest one is the grand one," He explained, even at this great distance it was clear which one was largest, "We start there."

X

"So there are more of them?" The advisor asked the minister, "How many more sir?"

"Not many, there is only a handful we need to worry about though. Stop the manhunt for Ms West, focus all efforts on Mr Adams, he is priority one, priority two is a man named Nicoli Dimitri, see what you can dig up on him." The minister answered from behind his desk.

"You trust the information you were given then sir?" The advisor asked, looking a little sceptical.

"Completely, it is not something I can explain to you nor will you ever understand, just trust me when I say Mr Adams is the problem." He looked down at a memo he had been sent, "The incident at the bar in London, any more information on that?"

"No sir…" The advisor replied rather solemnly, "probably just an arsonist, though police have found nothing to go on whatsoever, almost like the perfect crime."

The minister had a horrible suspicion. "Ok, keep me updated with that won't you?"

"Of course sir." The advisor knew this was his cue to leave.

The minister poured himself a drink when his advisor had left and took a sip of it, he then set it down on the desk and walked over to the window and gazed out of it. Thoughts were flooding his head, all that he had learnt through Vincent Valentine prominent at the front of his mind. His door opened and closed once more.

"John…" He said, not turning round, "with all due respect what could possibly have changed in the last thirty…"

"I'm afraid John has had to turn in his resignation Mr Prime Minister…" A young voice answered from behind him. The minister turned round at once and was faced with none other than Josh Adams, "…I wouldn't bother calling for help if I were you, I don't think their hearing works anymore if you catch my drift?"

He locked the door behind him and took the key, this was unnecessary considering his barrier magic, yet the theatrics amused him. "Ah! I see you have already prepared a drink for me, how thoughtful you are minister…" Josh walked over to the desk and picked up the small glass of whisky, downing it in one.

"What do you want?" The minister asked defiantly.

"Oh my my we are going to need to work on your manners minister!" Josh taunted, jumping gracefully backwards over the desk and into the red leather chair behind it. "Vincent Valentine, what did he tell you?"

The minister did not move, it was though he was rooted to the spot in fear. "Nothing of interest to you, now get out of my office!" He replied, his voice full of false non-existent confidence.

Josh raised his hand and it glowed yellow. The minister then had the odd sensation that his mind was attempting to wipe itself, it was an unpleasant feeling, one which he fought with all his mind to fight off. Moments later it subsided.

"Now that is interesting, a non-parasite resistant to manipulation magic, very interesting." Josh lowered his arm, deciding which of the many orbs to use next. "Makes it much more fun for me however, I suggest you co-operate minister, your death with be swift and painless if you do." The minister said nothing and tried to keep his face neutral. "No? Very well."

An electric current erupted from Josh's fingertips, lifting the minister off of his feet and pinning him up against the back wall. He was screaming in agony, screaming for help to ears which could no longer hear, to advisors which would no longer run to his aid.

The current subsided and the minister fell to the floor with an almighty thud. "Now I will ask you again minister. What did Vincent Valentine tell you, where are the other parasites heading, what are their intentions?" The minister was terrified, yet he still refused to answer. "You are going to find out very quickly minister that my parasite and I are not well known for our patience, so you best co-operate quickly!"

He fired more lightning at him, causing him to scream in pain again, he writhed on the floor in agony, completely helpless. Josh attempted to use the manipulate materia again, yet he still managed to resist.

"_Let me speak with him…" _Sephiroth requested. Josh obliged, and seconds later the terrible figure of Sephiroth was towering over the helpless prime minister. "Now, let's see what we can do with you…" He drew a knife from his belt. It was odd, but since Josh had succumbed to Sephiroth's will whenever they morphed their attire changed as well.

Sephiroth slammed the knife through the ministers hand causing him to cry out once more. "I could do this…" Sephiroth said, withdrawing it from his flesh and snapping a finger on the other hand, "…all night!"

For at least an hour both Sephiroth and Josh took it in turns torturing the helpless man until eventually, much to their delight, he gave in. "Egypt…they went to Egypt…" He gasped through the shortness of breath he was left with.

"Why?" Josh who was currently in control asked.

"Black materia…they think it is there…" The minister replied, wheezing now from the lack of oxygen.

"You see minister…this would have been so much easier if you had just told me that to begin with instead of putting up a futile resistance." Josh walked over to him, touched a finger to the ministers forehead, and watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, showing only whiteness.

It was the same move Sephiroth had made him use on his defenceless aunt as he forced him to kill her, the deathblow, the ability only Sephiroth possessed in this world. Josh walked swiftly out of the office.

X

Tifa, Reeve, Red, Yuffie and Cloud all stood in front of the grand pyramid. It was an incredible sight, it towered hundreds of feet above them, casting a huge shadow over them in the desert sand.

"You can feel it too right?" Cloud asked, who was standing to the right of Tifa, addressing her. "It's definitely in this one."

"Our man didn't get a close enough look he was airborne at the time." Reeve explained, also with the overwhelmingly confident sensation that the black materia was in the pyramid before them. It was almost as though it was calling them to it.

"Do you think Sephiroth is here already?" Red asked everyone present.

"Who can say, for all we know he has already come and gone without our knowledge…mind you he would have used it by now if he had." Tifa pointed out. "So we have either beaten him or he is inside."

Reeve walked up to the edge of the pyramid. "I suppose we should start working out how exactly we get in?" He speculated, the others walked up beside him to join his search.

"Wherever it is it will be responsive to materia, we just need to search." Cloud said, starting to run his fingers along the base. "Someone check the top, there might be something up there, the rest of us should check the perimeter at the bottom."

Yuffie using her agile abilities started to climb the jagged edge of the pyramid. She was halfway up before looking back down to check the progress that her allies had made with their search at the bottom. She marvelled at just how tall the structure was, it wasn't until you were climbing it that you could truly appreciate the height.

When she reached the tip of the pyramid she knew that something of interest was there immediately, her instinct told her so. Upon careful inspection of the top most brick she noticed something which looked oddly like a tiny switch or button. She tried to press it down, thought it would not budge. Thinking for a few moments, she attempted to pull it out, then found that it could be twisted.

She turned it as far anticlockwise as it would go, and there was a rumble which caused the pyramid to shake. Yuffie looked back down at the stunned faces figures of her allies, who were all looking at a pitch black entrance that had been revealed. Yuffie skilfully traversed the edge of the pyramid and headed back down to join them.

"Found something then I take it?" Cloud asked upon her reaching the bottom.

"Yep!" She replied joyfully. "I thought there was already meant to be an entrance to this thing anyways Reeve?" She asked.

"The materia must have blocked it off, god only knows what we are going to find in there…" Reeve replied, taking a brave step forward towards the entrance. "I would say let's wait for Vincent and the others, but time is not on our side…" He walked into the tunnel.

There was no source of light to illuminate there way whatsoever. Tifa was soon on the case, she made a sustained flame appear in her right hand, showing them what they were faced with. The tunnel was plain, made from the same limestone bricks as the exterior. Looking around they could see torch brackets on the walls.

Tifa lit them as they went. "Nobody else is here then I would imagine…" She speculated, the passage did not look as though it had yet been trodden through.

They all walked cautiously down the dull corridor, until at last the reached a plain black door. On the wall next to the door was an inscription which read;

_To all those who seek me…_

_Your intentions are of no importance, whether you seek to destroy or liberate is neither here nor there. Take heed to this warning and turn back, for the power I contain is far too great to be controlled. _

_If you insist on pressing forward know this, the maze before you is expertly designed, never the same corridor twice will you face, and always on your guard you must be. Time and space are of little significance in this place, so be warned, you may just 'lose yourself' in the halls beyond._

_Turn back whilst you still can…_

"The materia wrote that?" Cloud questioned aloud. "It's like it resents its own existence…"

"If anybody does want to turn back…" Tifa began, going forward and putting her hand on the door ready to open it, "…now is the time, I won't blame any of you."

"Don't be silly!" Yuffie replied, walking up next to her.

Nobody left. With that, she pushed the door forward and entered the room beyond… Inside was a huge room, it must have been bigger than the base of the pyramid itself. It was constructed of what appeared to be black bricks, thousands of them, all of different shapes and sizes. Some jutting out of the wall, some creating staircases.

At the far end of the dark room was what appeared to be…what was it? A black light which illuminated the vicinity? "That must be it…" Cloud said, taking a step forward and almost immediately wishing he hadn't.

The room began to shake, all of them now finding it difficult to keep their balance. All of a sudden one of the bricks to Cloud's right began to tremble. "Look out!" Tifa shouted, hurling herself at him and knocking the two of them out the way just as the brick extended and slammed into the far wall, creating a long black barrier between themselves and the others.

It did not end there however, the two of them soon found themselves dodging out of the way of more black blocks, jumping ducking and weaving to avoid getting crushed. As soon as it was all over, the two of them looked around at their new surroundings. They were now standing in a narrow room, with no exit except a staircase which was built into the side of one of the walls which led up to another platform.

"Reeve! Yuffie! Red!" Tifa called through the blocks.

"We're here!" Reeve's voice replied from the other side of the wall behind them. "We're all fine, there is no way we can get to you though!" Tifa and Cloud looked at each other in panic.

"We're going to have to move on alone, see if it joins up later!" Cloud shouted back.

They agreed, and not wanting to waste any more time, the two of them pressed on up the stairs. The labyrinth was relentless and utterly perplexing. It was as though the already huge room was making them walk tantalisingly close to where the black materia, or at least what they assumed to be the materia, lay before forcing them to backtrack.

"I think I preferred the temple…" Tifa said to Cloud as they were forced to change direction away from the materia again, "…at least it didn't keep changing itself…"

They heard movement from round the next corner. To their delight, Reeve soon emerged from round it, walking briskly towards them. "Fancy finding you two!" He joked, walking briskly up to them, "No luck I take it?"

"Just got to keep going it looks like…" Cloud replied, thinking this was a rather odd question.

"Indeed…" Reeve then pulled out his gun and shot Cloud right in the shoulder. Out of nowhere however, someone else had tackled him to the floor. He sight which they now looked upon was most peculiar, two Reeves were grappling before them on the floor, and then two seconds later, one of them dissolved completely.

"It's testing us…" Reeve said, panting, "…I just went through the same thing with Yuffie before we got separated."

Cloud applied pressure to the wound in his shoulder. "We need to get you to Red, he has healing magic.

"Magic doesn't work in here…have you not tried any since we entered this room?" Reeve asked Tifa. Things were starting to get worse and worse by the minute. "The only thing that seems to work in here is summon materia."

"Right so we are completely naked then?" Tifa replied rhetorically, pressing on through the maze and walking back down the corridor the two Reeve's had just come from.

The three of them continued to traverse the maze, no more unwanted surprises heading their way yet. "Do you think that it's messing with our heads, seeing if we go mad before we reach it?" Cloud suggested, his shoulder still in pain.

"Almost certainly…" Reeve replied, "trust nothing we see from now on."

Shortly after that pronouncement the maze started to shift itself again. Cloud and Reeve were both separated from Tifa this time. "Don't worry, just keep going!" She called through the solid black wall.

They wasted no time in doing so, the quicker they traversed the maze the better. They had lost all sense of time, minutes seemed like hours, hours like weeks. They could not tell if they were near the top of the pyramid or the bottom, nothing seemed to follow logic anymore.

It was as they turned yet another corner that Cloud and Reeve saw it, at the end of the corridor. The black light which they predicted was the materia was hovering right there. At that precise moment however, the corridor began to shift.

"We aren't losing it again…" Cloud cried, and then burst into a sprint as the wall at the end began to slowly close in. He would never make it. From a wall to his right burst the mighty warrior that was Odin astride his horse. He hoisted Cloud onto his shoulder and galloped as fast as he could towards the end.

The wall had nearly shut as Odin threw Cloud with all his might through to the other side, in the process getting himself crushed in the wall with a sickening crunch.

Cloud looked around at the circular room he now stood in. On a plinth in the middle was the light source. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was in fact not the materia, merely an ominous black light. He had come all this way and could see no other option, he reached out his hand and touched it.

Around him, his surroundings began to change, the black walls turning into white stone, pure white, a blinding white. He was now standing in a cathedral sized room, at the other end was another raised plinth, besides which stood two figures. He approached them cautiously, noticing that it was a man and a woman.

"…Rufus Shinra?" Cloud asked, noticing the man who turned round upon hearing his name.

"Nice to see you again Cloud…" He was standing next to what was unmistakably the summon, Shiva, who had also turned round to look at him. Behind Rufus on a pedestal was a small black orb.

Cloud noticed that Rufus' once good eye was now completely scarred and white. Wondering what did this and if he could actually see him, Cloud took a few steps closer silently.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…" Rufus said warningly, "…the black materia is mine now, and Sephiroth will die from it…" Without any warning he suddenly turned round and picked up the black orb.

The white room vanished, they were both standing in the big black room once more, only the maze had vanished. Lying several feet away unconscious was Reeve. And back right near the entrance was Yuffie Tifa and Red. Rufus and Shiva had already started to make a run for it, the room had started to collapse…

Cloud made a bolt for it seconds later, hurling Reeve over his good shoulder and running as fast as he could. The others were waiting by the door, watching helplessly as Cloud did all he could to manoeuvre out of the way of falling debris. Amazingly, he reached the door unscathed, where Rufus had vanished was anyone's guess.

The passage beyond was beginning to collapse as well. The companions ran as fast as they could towards the light of day, reaching it just in time. Rufus Shinra and Shiva were outside flanked by Tseng, Reno and Rude. The pyramid behind them seemed unaltered.

"I think you can leave this to us now…" Rufus said to them, holding a gun in one hand and the materia in the other, "…goodbye Cloud, my regards to Elena."

A shadow all of a sudden engulfed Rufus for a moment, then hovered between the two parties and solidified into none other than Josh, who was now holding the black materia. "Thank you very much, this saves us a whole load of effort!"

"Josh!" Alex had taken control, "Josh what are you doing!" He looked at her, yet he did not seem to register who she was, moments later he turned back into the shadow and vanished before their very eyes.

Rufus was on the floor unconscious with no sign of Shiva anywhere. Tseng was checking his wellbeing and Reno and Rude looked completely lost without orders.

The sound of a helicopter then filled the air, and looking up, Yuffie shouted "It's Vincent!"

They all looked at the chopper which had descended just low enough for them to get on board. Leaving the Turks behind, they all got on as quick as they could and took off. It was not just Vincent on board, Barret was also there, and in the pilot's seat was none other than.

"Cid!" Tifa cried, running over to him.

"Long time no see!" He replied, not taking his eyes off where they were flying. "Now Vincent where am I taking this junk heap?"

"The nearest airfield." He replied, "Long journey ahead of us and not much time…"

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A/N I'll upload the chapters weekly every sunday from now on, hope you like it guys.

R


	26. Apocalypse

**-Chapter Twenty-Six-**

**Apocalypse**

"What happened to Reeve?" Vincent asked the company present.

"Summon died, he's gone comatose…" Alex explained. She happened to be feet away from him at the time, "…where do we go from here, Sephiroth has the black materia."

Everybody went silent for a few moments in defeat. What was there that they could do now? There was no way to stop him once he had summoned meteor using the materia, and when that happened the world was doomed.

"We stop him from using it, if he could use it anywhere he would have done it as soon as he got his hands on the damn thing…" Cloud speculated. Everyone thought that this was slightly wishful thinking, "…he is going to have to summon it somewhere similar to where he did on Gaia, that is my theory."

"We can only hope you are right…" Vincent said, "I have an idea where that might be but he will beat us there easily…"

"We'll be at Cairo in a few minutes…" Cid informed them, looking at the city which was slowly appearing on the horizon, "…I'm assuming you have a plan when we get there Vincent?"

"Reeve already has a jet there waiting for us, he is prepared I'll give him that, it is a shame to have him out of action…" He looked over at the unconscious form of his ally, "we need to keep focused though."

Cid touched the helicopter down on the helipad and they all got out, quickly changing back into their host forms before they did so. There was a swift transition of vehicles and before they knew it they were airborne once more, changing back to parasites.

"Want to know something interesting?" Yuffie said to Cloud, "we were only in the pyramid for ten minutes…" She indicated the time on her watch.

"It felt like we were in there for days!" He replied.

"I know, not really sure how it works either…" She admitted, watching Vincent as he walked over to the television and turned it on.

Instead of proceeding to do a briefing however as he normally would, he flipped it onto a UK news channel.

_Our top story; The Prime Minister was found dead in number ten downing street earlier this morning. Police described the scene as an onslaught, all of the staff had been murdered and the minister himself was found with multiple stab wounds in his office. Authorities are currently denying any truth that this is the work of the earlier named 'Parasites' which have recently come into light, Anita Franklyn reports live from number ten…_

There was a silence amongst them as the report went on. So this was the state of the world, the leader of the UK now dead, the one politician whom Vincent had managed to get on their side. This would surely plunge the world into chaos, if world leaders could be so easily killed by Sephiroth there was no telling what he was going to do next…

"This could cause uncertainty…" Vincent said aloud, looking round at everyone, "the sooner we stop him the better, we can't let him continue any longer."

"From what it sounds like Elena is also dead…" Tifa pointed out, remember what Rufus had said about giving their regards to her, "Rufus must have found out she was the informant after all."

"So now we don't know Shinra's movements either…" Cloud sounded defeated, "can things get any worse?"

"Don't look at things like that…" Tifa encouraged, "we need to stop him summoning meteor with the black materia, that is our goal. We do that and then we kill him, simple."

Cloud couldn't help but scoff. "Yeah, because our attempt to kill him back in our world was so successful…that's why we are here anyway."

Tifa looked at him. "What do you mean that is why we are here?" She asked curiously.

"…Did you not hear it?" He asked, looking around at all the confused faces he was now in the company of.

"Hear what?" Vincent asked, joining in the conversation.

Cloud looked at them as though they were joking. "The voice, the voice when we were defeated?" Everybody's faces looked if possible even more bewildered.

"Can't say I did…" Cid was the first to say anything.

"Nor me…" Vincent added.

"Me neither!" Yuffie chirped.

"Can't say I heard anything of the sort…" Tifa admitted.

"Sure you weren't hearing things spikey?" Barret laughed.

"Nothing here either." Red concluded.

It was at this moment that all of them seemed to realise something. The whole team was back together at last, even though one of them was not currently conscious, this seemed to boost morale somewhat. The entire team together hunting down and stopping the most evil person on the planet.

"Must have been hearing things…" Cloud decided, not going into any further detail, "Where are we headed anyway?"

"America, to the gulf of Mexico." Vincent informed them, everybody looked slightly puzzled. "Allow me to explain. Thousands of years ago, scientists believe that the planet was struck by a meteorite, wiping out all life on the surface of the planet and plunging it into nuclear winter. If Sephiroth needs to go to an area where the planet has been scarred, that will be his number one choice."

Everybody looked at him, impressed by his extensive knowledge of the planet he had gained from travelling through so many hosts. This after all must be the reason he had decided not to stay in one host for too long, the power gained from the knowledge he now held was very valuable indeed.

He brought up a map of the world on the TV monitor and began zooming into the gulf. "This entire area here is the gulf." He highlighted a huge area of an ocean. "best bet is that Sephiroth will go to the middle of it to use the materia, that is where it is likely to be most responsive. There is of course a chance he won't pick this location, but these are slim, I managed to briefly sense his intentions whilst he stole the materia."

"How did he do that shadow like thing?" Cloud asked, wondering if anybody would manage to think of any input on this.

"It would appear he has magic beyond materia now, his relationship with his host has reached an extraordinary level, they seem to be working off each other brilliantly." He looked over at Tifa and began to speak to Alex, "I am sorry, but it looks as though Josh's mind is lost now…"

Tifa chose not to let Alex take over and give her some privacy. Alex did not know how to react, her best friend was now merciless, working with enthusiasm to summon a deadly meteor.

"Surely all of us combined can easily take down Sephiroth!" Cid almost shouted at them all. "We have more materia than he could dream of and summons to boot!"

He touched his materia arm and made not one but two red orbs appear in it. He showed them off proudly to the cabin, Yuffie as always was the first to react. "What are they!"

"Ramuh, the thunder god, and Ifrit the fire demon. Considerin' how these summons react in this world I'd say all of them combined gives us a pretty good chance!"

"It is also a handicap though, if one of them dies we are in trouble." Cloud pointed at Reeve who was still unconscious on the sofa. "We need to make sure we take care of them just like we would any other ally in battle."

"Here here!" Yuffie agreed, she then turned to Cid. "Where have you been anyway?"

Cid and Vincent both began to laugh at this point. "You really are all clueless! I've been piloting your jet's everywhere you've been flying!" He replied, Vincent also chuckling along.

"We found him relatively early on, wanted to keep him secret from Sephiroth though, didn't want him to know we had just as much unity as we did." Vincent smiled.

"If we didn't know though where was the unity?" Tifa pointed out.

"Well there was unity between me Cid and Reeve at any rate. Rest assured this is the only thing you didn't know, all is out in the open now." He assured them.

"Reeve knew as well?" Tifa asked.

"Of course!" Cid replied, "It was Reeve who found me, pure luck, but then everything in this world seems to be pure luck." He looked back down at his materia arm, "I don't think I will ever understand how these things are thinking… Especially the black one…"

"It didn't want to be obtained though…" Vincent pointed out, then suddenly realised an alternative, "…or whoever put it there didn't want it to be obtained, that's always a possibility."

"You think someone is orchestrating this whole thing?" Cloud asked, "If that's the case, why put the black materia into the world at all, why not just leave it in Gaia?"

"It is only an alternate theory." Vincent replied simply. "The thought that someone is controlling this whole situation is very unnerving…"

"Let us hope it is not the case then." Tifa chipped in.

X

Josh walked confidently along the sunny dock, looking at all the impressive vessels which had made berth there. He was not particularly fussed about which one he chose, any of them would do perfectly for the plan.

It was fortunate that the news of the Parasites was not yet widely known in America, as fast as news travelled this was very lucky indeed. Nobody seemed to know that Josh was now the most wanted person in Britain. No doubt authorities would know that it was he who had killed the prime minister, they would attempt to keep this from the public of course.

He walked along to the end of the docks to what looked like the most impressive warship. It bore the name 'Valiant' on its hull. There were many crew members aboard already, this did not faze Josh however, he strode confidently aboard the ship onto the deck.

It was odd, but nobody on deck seemed to pay him much attention, it was as though Josh's lack of deliberate conspicuousness was keeping him out of site. Indeed, several of the crew walked within two feet of him and seemed not to register that he even existed.

This was magic working in ways Sephiroth himself had not thought possible; a disguise that was keeping him and Josh at the 'corner of your eye' part of people's perception. It was not as though he was invisible, people were moving deliberately round him to avoid collision still.

Josh manipulated the mind of one of the nearby sailors in order to determine the way to the bridge, then released him from the magic. He strode confidently towards one of the large bulkhead doors and turned the huge wheel upon it. Pushing it open, Josh began to explore the ships interior.

It did not take him long before he reached the bridge of the ship, where three crew members and the captain stood, apparently checking over all the apparatus. Josh moved quietly over to the captain and manipulated him.

"Ready to set sail?" He asked the crew members, to Josh's delight they all nodded, he must have got there just as they were finishing their checks.

The captain then began to set the baring's on the ships computer. A few minutes later they were off, setting sail in a southbound direction. Josh, seeing that his job was done, took his leave from the bridge, sealed the door behind him, and headed back down towards the deck.

"_Right, just need to dispose of the crew…" _Sephiroth said to Josh, _"…you want this one or shall I take it?"_

"_You can have this one, I need to rest…" _Josh replied, closing his eyes and allowing Sephiroth to take control. Again nobody seemed to notice this at all.

"_I was starting to miss this, letting you have all the fun isn't normally my style…"_

X

They touched down at an airfield on the south coast of Louisiana. Knowing that they were going to be far behind Sephiroth was already lowering the party's morale.

"Someone is going to have to stay with Reeve, make sure that he stays safe…" Vincent instructed before any of them got off of the plane, most of them had already reverted back to their host forms.

"I'll do it…" Shaun volunteered, walking back towards the chair he had been sat in, "…you just want us to stay in the jet?"

"Yes, if we could borrow your materia as well that would be brilliant." Shaun extracted all of his materia from his arm and handed it over to Vincent, who began handing it out between everyone. Much to Yuffie's annoyance she did not receive any of it.

Alex walked over to Shaun and wrapped her arms around him. "See you in a few hours mate." She then did something she had never done before and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek before turning round and getting off the Jet.

The hosts walked out into the blinding sunlight, Vincent still choosing to keep in parasite form. "There should be a chopper waiting for us down by the docks, it will take us an hour from there to get to the centre of the gulf."

All of them could see the docks within walking distance of the airfield. Vincent had obviously chosen this location very carefully. Approaching the docks however, they noticed that something seemed to be wrong. People seemed to be in a very low state of panic.

Alex took advantage of this and walked up to one of the nearby civilians. "What's going on, what is everyone getting so excited about?"

"You not heard darlin'?" The woman replied in a thick American accent, "The Valiant has gone AWOL, took off without a word, got everyone round here talkin'."

They all looked at each other, a silent understanding passing between each of them. So he had beaten them to it after all. No matter though, travelling by ship to the centre of the gulf would be a slow process, they still had time to catch up.

"We can't waste any more time," Vincent reminded them all as the woman went away, "the chopper is just over here, we must make haste!"

They all ran as fast as they could over to the waiting chopper, Cid getting into the pilots section. They took off and began to fly southbound towards the centre of the gulf. It would take some time, but they had much to discuss on the way.

"How the hell is he travelling so fast!" Tifa asked having just taken over Alex, "It makes no sense!"

"No way of knowing," Cloud replied looking at her, "he can't make the ship go any faster though, we may just catch up with him!"

They were all constantly on the lookout for the Valiant. Nothing for the first half of the journey however. Everyone was talking tactics, discussing the best way to take down their nemesis.

"…There!" Cloud shouted, looking out the side of the chopper at a ship in the distance, "That has to be it!"

The ship was not moving, and on approach they could not see anyone on the deck. Cid hovered the chopper next to the ship on the same level. The deck was currently deserted, a ghost ship.

"Are we too late?" Tifa asked, looking at the ship.

A figure suddenly walked out into the centre of the deck at that very moment. It was Sephiroth alright, he must have killed everyone aboard. He looked straight at them all in the chopping with an expression of amusement set on his face.

"My friends!" He shouted, and his voice was surprisingly clear considering the noise being made by the rotary blades, "So glad you could make it!"

Vincent took aim with his gun, Tifa stopped him however. "No point, he will only reflect it back at us."

At that moment from the distance came another chopper, this one bearing Rufus Shinra, Tseng, Reno and Rude. Tseng was piloting. Sephiroth looked round at the new arrivals, his smile growing even wider.

"And Mr President as well, this is turning into quite the party, I shall endeavour to be a good host!" He laughed at his own ironic use of the word.

Sephiroth then raised his materia arm, and everybody knew what was coming next. Tifa sent spell after spell at him, but whatever magic he was using had encased the entire ship in an incredible barrier. Nothing got within twenty feet of him, it seemed hopeless.

"Have to try something different!" Yuffie shouted, then without warning jumped out of the chopper and started hurtling towards the water.

The phoenix rose from the waves and caught Yuffie with ease. She was using it as a mount, flying round the exterior of the ship, looking for a weak spot in the barrier. The phoenix then spread its wings, and from the tips of its feathers burst golden flames. They passed through the barrier and hit the ship, causing minor damage.

Sephiroth had begun to use the black materia however, he had taken it from his arm to do so. It hovered ten feet above the deck emitting the same black glow the mysterious light did back in the pyramid. The phoenix fired more golden flames, all missed the materia and continued to cause minor damage to the ship.

"Reno!" Rufus called over the noise of the chopped, "Go!"

Reno, just as Yuffie had done, jumped from their chopper and began to fall towards the ocean. Before impact however, the huge sea serpent Leviathan rose from it and he landed gracefully on the beasts back. Leviathan began to swim round the exterior of the ship, firing jets of water at incredible speed at it. This pierced several holes in the ship's hull, yet it did not begin to sink.

Whatever the black materia was doing, it seemed to be creating its own gravitational pull. The water around the ship and the ship itself began to rise up majestically, spectacularly, a good twenty feet up to begin with.

Yuffie's phoenix fired again trying to hit the materia in order to disable it, yet no matter how close the golden flames got they seemed unable to hit it. Then quite suddenly, a pure beam of black light shot from the materia straight at the phoenix, making it vanish instantly. Yuffie fell fifty feet and landed on the back of the sea serpent.

"Do you mind!" Reno shouted at her, attempting to kick her off.

Yuffie was surprised that she was still conscious, whatever the materia had done it seemed merely to have dismissed the phoenix. The chopper containing her allies circled round and Yuffie made a swift retreat from Leviathans back.

The ship continued to gain in height, it must have reached about a hundred feet above sea level by now, the deck was completely shrouded by the water around it. Then from the pillar of water burst a beam of white light which shot straight into the heavens. The beam was the same size as the pillar of water, it was blinding to look at.

Leviathan then did what it was known for. It created a tsunami the size of which nobody had ever seen. It collided with the pillar, causing the beam of light to vanish. The damage however had already been done. There was an almighty CRASH as the ship hit the water, and then from nowhere came the dragon form of Bahamut ZERO, astride it none other than Sephiroth.

They caught a brief glimpse of him, before suddenly, he had vanished towards the horizon. So that was how he was getting everywhere so quickly. The water calmed, the two remaining choppers hovered in place and as one, all of the parasites looked towards the sky. The purple aura that was meteor could be seen in the distance.

Three days to impact.


	27. Nuclear Sky

Just to assure you all this story is finished it's just finding time to upload them (I know it doesn't take too long but my free time is extremely limited atm xD) Enjoy!

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**-Chapter Twenty-Seven-**

**Nuclear Sky**

"What the hell happened?" Shaun asked as everybody returned to the jet. "You could see the beam of light from here, it was huge!"

"We'll explain in a minute, we need to get in the air and out of the country now, we can't stay in one place for too long…" Vincent said to everyone, Cid took this as his cue to get in the cockpit and start the engines.

"Why not?" Tifa asked rather bewildered.

"The government can't keep that meteor quiet, it's visible for god sake! There will be panic, riots, the world is going to be plunged into chaos and there is nothing in the world we can do to stop it!" For the first time ever Vincent sounded truly defeated. He had always been the one to turn to for a plan, now however he did not know what to do.

The jet was airborne in next to no time, and for once none of them knew what to do, they all looked completely lost. Had they lost all hope completely? Where was there to go now, if the world was going to be in the state which Vincent predicted, and his predictions were usually true, the companions were going to be at the top of everyone's hit list, or at least Alex and Tifa would be.

Vincent collapsed into an armchair, and Shaun took it upon himself to switch on the television to see the state of the news. To nobody's surprise, meteor was headlining. There were several pictures taken from observatories, depicting in detail the huge purple meteorite which was hurtling towards the earth.

"But surely there has to be a way to stop it?" Shaun asked everyone in the room, "There is always an opposite to everything so there has to be to this!"

Cloud looked at him and replied. "There is, but there is not enough time to find the means to stop it. Holy is the only way to destroy it, and that was lost back in our world. We couldn't find it there, so why would we be able to find it here?"

This could not be the end, this was the last shred of hope that they had to cling to, they could not let it go. "No, that's not the outlook to have!" Yuffie cried, running up to him and punching him in the chest rather harder than usual, "We need to find it, it has to be here!"

"And where to you propose we start?" Vincent asked her, his head leaning on one of his hands, "Any logical suggestions at this point would be greatly appreciated."

"Well I don't know, holy places!" She cried, realising just how unspecific and consequently unhelpful this was.

The TV suddenly went dead, all they could see was white noise. Shaun went over to it and changed channel, however it was the same on every single one, nothing but white noise.

"Bad signal perhaps?" He suggested.

"No…" Vincent replied, "…something far more sinister…"

X

"_A brilliant idea if I do say so myself…" _Sephiroth said to Josh who was currently in control, _"…you have proved yourself more useful than I could ever have imagined." _

Josh did not answer as the two of them entered the studio. The two of them again seemed to be undetectable, walking past various runners and reporters without getting so much as a double take. He manipulated someone every now and again just to make sure he was heading the correct way.

Before long however he found himself facing the door which read 'news room', there was a red light lit above it which said 'on air'. This was exactly what he was looking for, he confidently stretched out a hand and pushed the door wide open. He was met with the standard setup, a news desk surrounded by green-screen, and several cameras pointing straight at it.

Taking several steps into the room, Josh sat down in a vacant chair and observed the newsreader for a moment. As expected meteor was headline news, a recording of the ship which he had summoned it from was currently playing. It was incredible how quickly this world managed to publish its news, which was exactly the thing Sephiroth wanted.

Josh closed his eyes, and the room suddenly went completely dark. "We've lost power we're off the air," A crew member said, "Go to emergency power back up now!" Nothing happened, the room remained in complete darkness.

He began to make several phone calls only to realise he had no signal on his phone. His face was illuminated, hovering there in the pitch black of the room. His face suddenly went blank. Putting his phone away, he walked over and sat behind camera number one.

The lights suddenly came back up and illuminated a horrible scene. Everybody except that one crew member had been slaughtered. Blood stained the floors of the studio, and leaning in front of the news desk was none other than Josh, looking directly down into camera one.

The red 'on air' light flipped back on. "People of the world," He began, speaking very clearly and defiantly, "I stand here before you now with two options. As you all know, a meteorite is heading towards the earth, it will collide with the planet in precisely two days, twenty one hours, seven minutes and thirty two seconds" He smiled, "Option one is you all accept your fate, you go out and enjoy the rest of your pathetic lives whilst you still can." His eyes flickered over to the door where several people had started trying to get in, Josh's barrier would prevent this with ease however.

"Option two is that you hunt down and destroy Alex West and her companions." He manipulated the green-screen technology and made a picture of Alex and Tifa both appear. "If, and only if these menaces are destroyed will meteor cease to exist. Look in every building, every home, every cave, every town, every city and every village. Leave no stone unturned, hunt them all down," The green screen flashed up pictures of all the other parasites and their hosts, "less you want to be destroyed. Will you let this be your end? That is the choice I leave to you, goodbye!" The on air light flashed back off.

Just as this did so the door burst open. Josh had removed the barrier and let them come in. As expected there were several heavily armed men. "Ah gentlemen…" Josh began, then allowed Sephiroth to take over.

"Fantastic, I was beginning to think you weren't coming…" He unsheathed his sword, the Masamune.

X

"Wait a minute…" Vincent began as the TV was reduced to white noise once more, "…why is he so intent on getting rid of us? The damage is done, unless…" He began to pace the cabin, "…unless killing him deactivates the materia!"

The fire seemed to return in Vincent's eyes within an instant. "Yes!" Cloud agreed, punching the air in delight, "that must be why, and he knows we are the only ones who stand a chance of killing him."

"Right!" Yuffie joined in, a look of utter ecstasy on her face, "So we just need to find him and kill him in order for…"

"Meteor to vanish!" Red who had taken over Shaun looked amazed, "when meteor is gone, the hunt for us will stop, and then we can…"

"Start trying to figure out how to get the hell back home!" Barret shouted, also getting to his feet and moving closer to his companions, "Only problem is…"

"Finding out where he is." Cid chirped in, yet still looking positively delighted, "But if we all pool our ideas that should be a piece of cake!"

They all looked round at Tifa, only to see that Alex had taken over and had not shared their enthusiasm. "It's Josh, you just want to destroy him too…?" She looked as though she was on the verge of tears. To everyone's amazement Red morphed back into Shaun, who walked over to her.

"Alex…" He began, looking at her very seriously, "…I think Josh died the second he realised what you were, I think…I think Sephiroth has killed the Josh we once knew completely, he is gone Alex…letting this thing which is pretending to be Josh continue to do what he is doing is an insult to his memory."

Alex completely broke down into Shaun's arms. There was nothing that could be said, nothing that could be done which would change his fate now. She had not accepted it up until this point, not wanted to believe that her childhood friend was gone, that a masked imposter was now running amuck in his place.

When the tears eventually subsided, Shaun released Alex from his grasp, and she turned to face the rest of the group. "You're all right of course…I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry, we understand…" Cloud was the first to say, walking over to her and giving her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, "…but we've got to do what we've got to do…"

"Yeah…" Cid said, he had just made a quick trip to the cockpit, "…and what we've got to do right now is set this baby down and refuel her."

"Where are we?" Vincent asked, flipping the TV onto the map screen.

"About a hundred miles south of Greenland, we should be able to set her down there quickly, attempting to go any further though and…" He made a whistling noise, followed by a 'pop' sound.

"Right set her down, only one of us needs to leave the plane, the fewer of us that are seen the better." Vincent suggested.

"I can camouflage myself and refuel the jet if that makes things a little more convenient?" Yuffie asked, unnecessarily demonstrating the ability for the umpteenth time.

X

The airfield they landed at seemed to be a prime example of how effectively Sephiroth's television announcement had worked. Getting the thing landed in a runway was difficult enough, many people seemed to be panicking and fleeing the country for…what? Nobody could say for sure.

"Perhaps there are underground vaults somewhere?" Shaun suggested, looking out of the window as Yuffie left to attempt to refuel.

"Won't do them any good even if there are…" Vincent informed him, "…this is not a normal meteor, it will go straight through the planet like it is butter, an underground vault might be a good idea for surviving a nuclear winter, otherwise it has little use…"

"Well then they may as well go on vacation…" Shaun remarked, his joke not receiving any kind of laughter response.

There was an explosion in the distance and several worried cries. "I'd get used to the sight of that if I were you…" Cloud said to everyone, "…Like you said Vincent, the world is in chaos, speaking of which…can you still become chaos here?"

"Can't say I've tried yet…" Vincent replied, now wondering why this hadn't crossed his mind before, "…what good would it do even if I could though? Unless we find Sephiroth that is."

"When we find him ya mean!" Barret shouted, trying to raise morale. There was another explosion in the distance. "Nobody ever got anywhere by thinkin' $%^% negatively!"

Vincent chuckled. "I don't think I can just do it automatically, much like back in our world it is going to have to be a spur of the moment thing I feel…" Vincent informed them all, returning to the original question.

Yuffie chose that moment to return to the Jet. "We are all ready to go, how often are we gonna have to do this?" She asked curiously.

"As often as need be!" Cid replied, jumping to his feet and returning swiftly to the cockpit. Moments later the engines roared into life, and they were off again.

"What I don't understand…" Shaun said as if continuing a long conversation, "…is how he managed to get pictures of us and all of our hosts, how is that even possible? He hasn't even seen Cid yet…"

"Some things may never be explained…" Vincent replied, sitting down and crossing his legs, "…for now, let's just focus on taking him down, we ask questions later."

X

One day, twelve hours and thirty two minutes to impact.

"It is within range at last sir!" An aide said, walking up to the president in the secured bunker. "We need you down at bunker sixty four immediately, this has got to work!" He sounded very enthusiastic.

The president of the united states however did not share the enthusiasm, this thing did not look like it was going to be beaten by normal means. "Anything is worth a try at this stage…" The past twenty four hours had been utter hell.

Since the television transmission the states had plunged into pandemonium. Many people stormed the Whitehouse, and it was extremely lucky that the president had got out alive. If he had not, the missiles he was about to fire would not have been accessible, and all hope would have been extinguished completely.

He and his aide walked down the clinically lit military corridors, until they finally reached a door entitled 'Bunker Sixty-Four'. The aid took a key-ring out from his pocket, fumbled for a few moments to find the right key, inserted it into the lock and turned.

They entered the bunker, it was completely kitted out with high tech military equipment. On the far wall was a map of the world with lots of different red markers all flashing rapidly. This, the president knew, was the current state of the world.

"Glad we can finally blow this thing out of the sky sir…" An important looking man said to him, saluting as the president approached.

"Worth a go Sergeant…" The president followed him over to a computer which had what appeared to be two finger print scanners, two retina eye scanners, two key card slots and two normal keyholes.

"We must do this in perfect unison sir…" The sergeant said, walking over to the right hand side to the four devices, the first of which was the normal keyhole. The president extracted a small key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock, a key he had hoped never to use, the sergeant did the same on his side, "On my count, three, two, one…" They both turned, one red light out of four on the monitor between them turned green.

The moved on to the key-card slot. The sergeant handed a card over to the president. "Again on three sir…" He said, inserting his card into the slot, "Three, two, one…" They both removed the cards in a flourish. The second light went green.

On to the finger print scanner. They both hovered their fingers a fraction away from their pads before repeating the process and pressing them to it. The third light went green.

The final security protocol now. "Sergeant, do you really think this is going work?" The president asked, resting his head on the chin rest in front of the eye scanner, no need for synchronisation this time it would seem.

"You have any other suggestions Mr President?" He asked, doing the same with his scanner, the president did not answer.

The final light went green. "On my count then…" The president said, addressing two men sitting at the computer next to him. "Fire in five… four… three… two… one… fire!"

Several bright orange lights near the coast of Hawaii lit up.

X

Around twenty huge nuclear missiles burst forth from underneath the sea floor, hurtling their way towards outer space and ultimately towards meteor. Their journey was being watched as mere dots on a map back in the bunker. They hurtled towards the huge boulder, yet before they were within fifty miles, they detonated, making the sky above the planet light up spectacularly, a light so bright it would surely burn the retina of anyone looking upon it.

So it had failed, whatever magic was used to summon meteor was too great for the missiles to penetrate. All hope for the mortal world was now lost, and their hopes, though they did not know it, now rested on the shoulders of eight individuals and their parasitical others.

X

"They should have known from the off that that wasn't going to work!" Barret cried, looking out of the window at the aftermath of the sky. Meteor was now a lot closer, a lot bigger to the eye. It was this that put it into perspective just how huge it must be.

"Can't blame them for trying." Vincent said, pacing around hopelessly, their last days efforts of finding Sephiroth had been unsuccessful.

"Oh but this is pointless!" Tifa said, exasperatedly, "…we have no idea where to look and no leads."

At that precise moment, Reeve's phone began to ring in his pocket. He was still unconscious, so Shaun took the liberty of relieving him of it. He read the caller id on the screen which said 'Francesca'.

"She is dead though!" He said aloud, making everybody crowd behind him to look at the screen, it rang through to voicemail. Seconds later it began to ring again, and Shaun decided to answer it. "Hello?"

There was a short minute conversation between him and whoever it was on the other end of the phone before he hung up and put the phone on the table beside Reeve. "Set course for Moscow, Russia, seems old Rufus Shinra wants a word with us all…"

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A/N As usual reviews appreciated. Little disheartened this story hasn't had the response we were expecting (we thought the idea was pretty original xD) Until next time.

R+A


	28. Cause and Effect

****All good things must come to an end, and by the end of this week this story shall be one of them. Sorry for the long overdue update, a change in laptops meant almost losing the final chapters, however they are all now safely recovered, and we hope you enjoy them!

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**-Chapter Twenty-Eight-**

**Cause and Effect**

"Sir you really think that this is wise?" Tseng asked the president.

They were back in their main base on operations in Russia. Rufus was leaning on what once was the map which bore the possible locations of parasites and materia. The table was now completely blank however, it was a sorry sight to look at. The president of Shinra looked up at his head Turk.

"What other choice do we have Tseng? Fear not though," Rufus began, and to Tseng's surprise there was a slight look of confidence on his face, "if all goes to plan we should not need their help, just a little bit of information."

All of a sudden the sound of banging on the main doors of the building sounded, and the sound of shouting could be heard from the other side. Reno and Rude who had been silent up to this moment looked at each other, then at the president.

"Sir how secure is this building exactly?" Reno asked, taking a tentative step forward towards Rufus.

"Secure enough, what with our little bit of magical additives it would take nothing short of a bomb to break down those doors." Much to their discomfort, the distant sound of an explosion then sounded. The chaos which meteor had ensued truly was worldwide.

Rufus looked over at Reno. "Any success on the location of the broadcast?" He asked, looking very serious.

"No sir it was completely untraceable, he seems to know what he is doing…" Reno admitted defeated, "…not that it really matters, we didn't get within twenty feet of him last time so why would this time be any different."

The approaching doom seemed to have changed everybody's personality considerably, the word 'optimistic' seemed like a myth. "Nothing is impossible, everybody has a weakness we just need to find out where to push…" Rufus said, his strategic mind kicking back into action, "…if we need to fight him again at all that is."

X

"So problem…" Tifa began half an hour before they were due to reach Moscow, "…how are we supposed to get through the city without being mobbed?"

This thought had crossed everybody's mind, the only reason nobody had voiced it yet was because plans were running thin on the agenda. All of a sudden, Reeve began to stir on the sofa. Everybody looked over at him as Vincent strode over and knelt down beside him. His eyes flickered open.

"Well that was unpleasant…" He groaned, attempting to sit up unsuccessfully, "remind me not to do that again anytime soon."

"Well that is the last time I lend you anything of mine!" Vincent joked, referring to the Odin materia embedded in Reeve's arm. "Welcome back."

"Miss much?" He asked, attempting to sit up and succeeding this time.

"Oh you know, the usual…" Yuffie began in a matter of fact tone, "Sephiroth got the black materia," She ticked it off on a finger of her right hand as she spoke, "summoned meteor and issued a worldwide hunt for our heads on sticks, other than that no, been a pretty dull couple of days really!"

Reeve looked ready to vomit, expecting someone to suddenly say 'Aaaah we had you going for a moment there eh!?', this however was not the case, and looking at all of their solemn faces confirmed the truth.

"So what are we doing now?" He asked, noticing for the first time that they were on Charles' jet, "Where are we going?"

"We had a call for Rufus in Moscow we will be touching down there shortly." Shaun informed him, he was the only host currently present.

"You don't think it's a trap?" Reeve asked all of them.

"Ha!" Barret boomed, looking out of the window at the landscape below, "Even if it was a trap what would it matter at this point? What would Rufus *&^* Shinra gain from a brawl with us?"

"Peace of mind before death?" Cloud suggested sarcastically, folding his arms.

The jet began to descend towards their destination. It would be extremely lucky if they managed to get on the runway with the world in the state it was in. Fortunately however, the airport seemed to still be functioning properly, even if it was slightly overcrowded, and by slightly, it meant more planes trying to leave than enter.

"Is there even any point changing back to our hosts at this stage?" Cloud asked Vincent.

"I would say yes, but travelling together would be the giveaway. We must make our way to Rufus' base alone to avoid drawing attention." He replied, looking at everyone as they began morphing back to their hosts.

"Works for me." Savina said, initiating her camouflaged state. "Just tell me where I need to go and I'll get there."

"His base is the old KGB museum in the centre of the city." Charles was the one to answer. "We will have to avoid main roads, travelling by car will be almost impossible due to traffic…no it's going to be about an hour's foot journey from here I would say."

"An hour that we can't really afford to lose." Alex pointed out. She was right, there were now less than twenty four hours until meteor struck.

All of them looked up at the sky as a reflex after getting off the jet, the huge purple rock that was meteor was covering an awful lot of their vision now. It was even greater in size than it was back on their world, roughly the size of a country rather than a city, and a large country at that.

"Right…" Charles said to them all, "…minimum necessary force, just keep your heads down and try to…well blend in I guess." He was the first to start walking bravely towards the city, wishing he had a hood of some kind.

"See you there everyone!" Savina said confidently, camouflaging herself spectacularly and beginning to walk towards the city as well.

They all dispersed and nervously for the first time since meteor was summoned, they entered civilisation. It was as expected an utter disaster. The main roads were completely blocked where cars had crashed into each other through both panicked and reckless driving. Windows of both shops and homes had been smashed all along the streets.

Alex was extremely nervous being left alone. She knew of course that this was the safest way, but she couldn't help but feel something was going to happen to one of them. Much to her utter horror, everybody seemed to have taken the television broadcast to heart, in the short time that had passed the faces of all of them were plastered on the walls, a reminder for everyone of what to be looking for.

She couldn't help but walk up to a poster bearing herself and Tifa. It was unreal to look at, but then Alex remembered something. _"Adrian couldn't see Sephiroth in the photo on my collage, why can people suddenly see it now?" _She asked Tifa, who was quiet for a moment before answering.

"_Perhaps because people have seen us…me…in person it has broken whatever illusion was shielding it?" _She suggested. This seemed to be a satisfactory answer for Alex. There was a group of obviously drunk men approaching from a side street on her right and Alex chose that moment to walk away from the poster.

The damage it seemed had been done however. They all looked at the poster as she made her retreat, Alex then heard them shout something in Russian, and the sound of running footsteps behind her then followed. Deciding to neutralise them, Alex turned and using Tifa's fighting expertise she took on the three men.

It was absurdly simple due to how intoxicated they all were. They looked on the brink of consciousness even before the fight. One of the men was wearing a long hooded coat. Alex decided to relieve him of it and donned it herself, it was so long on her it fell down past her knees.

Putting the hood up over her head she turned and walked, a little more confidently this time. It was surprising just how few people there were in the city at the moment. Alex thought that many must have fled, but to what point and purpose she could not see.

"_No…" _Tifa said in her head, reading this thought, _"something more sinister is at work here, I can sense it…" _Alex was just about to ask exactly what sinister something she could sense when her phone began to ring. It was Charles. "Alex speaking."

"Thought as much." He replied, "Something isn't right Alex, where is everybody? I've seen what…ten people ish?"

Alex looked round at the barren and near deserted streets. There were people at the other end lighting fires in nearby bins, but that was about it. "Surely people are just running around in panic?" Alex speculated.

"Do me a favour and check the more untouched houses, see if there is anybody in them, neutralise anybody that attacks…" Charles instructed, obviously taking the lead from Reeve's word. He then hung up.

She looked around at the street, there were around three houses that looked habitable. Walking up to the nearest one Alex tried the door, it was unlocked. She entered, it was your standard modern house setup. Looking around the three bedrooms Alex found nobody, however curiously there was some food left in a frying pan on the hob, it looked as though it was cooked recently.

Moving onto the next house she entered, needing to apply a little bit of force this time. This house clearly belonged to someone elderly, the décor was just too old fashioned for it not to. Alex silently made her way round, until she came to the living room. Sitting in an armchair was an elderly lady, very frail looking. Obviously she was of no threat to Alex, she looked right at her.

"Who's there?" The elderly woman asked in English, which surprised Alex. "Can't you leave an old woman be?"

"I'm not here to cause trouble." Alex informed the old woman in a raised voice, thinking she might be slightly deaf.

"No need to shout!" She replied, getting to her feet and walking up to Alex, the better to see her face. "You're one of them that they're all looking for aren't you?" She asked, her voice not frightened, "Cowards the lot of them, any idiot can see you aren't the problem!"

The old woman turned round and walked back over to her chair. "You aren't Russian?" Alex asked curiously.

"Top marks for the intelligence in youth today I see!" The woman laughed. "I moved here years ago from England my dear. But tell me, what brings you into my house?"

"I want to know where everybody is." Alex replied.

"You would 'like' to know you mean, manners young lady!" The elderly lady was beginning to aggravate Alex now. "What rock have you been hiding under for the last couple of days?" The old woman laughed again.

Alex looked extremely confused just as the elderly woman began to cough violently. "Not sure I follow…"

"Oh you will find out soon enough, don't go thinking it is just here in Moscow though, go anywhere else and it is exactly the same story, and exactly the same people." She coughed even more, "Only the old crones like me with little more than an ounce of life left in them who remain."

This wasn't right though, Alex had earlier seen fairly young men who had tried to attack her. "Where has everybody gone?" She asked, simply.

"All in good time," She coughed again and then quite suddenly, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The old woman had died before Alex's very eyes.

Then something happened which Alex neither expected nor understood. A blue wisp like substance seemed to force its way up the woman's throat and out of her slightly open mouth. The wisp hovered for a few moments before shooting straight through the closed window, smashing a hole in it, and out of sight.

"What the hell was that?" Alex questioned aloud.

"_Beats me…" _Tifa replied, just as utterly bewildered as Alex was, _"…we should keep moving and tell the others when we see them."_

Alex agreed, and she left the elderly woman's house, closing her eyelids before she did so as a mark of respect. The blue wisp, whatever that was, had long since vanished. It took little time considering the lack of people to get to the old KGB museum. The building was huge, all of the windows of which there were hundreds of had been blacked out. So this was Rufus Shinra's main base of operations.

The building looked like it had recently been under siege, several of the windows were cracked however not quite smashed, and the main door looked as though it had been chipped away at as if attempted to be broken through. Yuffie was already standing outside the door, Alex could just about make out the camouflaged figure of the ninja. Obviously Savina had let her take over.

She strode confidently up to her. "No sign of the others yet then?" Alex asked her, causing her to relinquish her camouflaged state.

"Not yet, got a call from Charles though, he is right, where the hell is everybody!" Yuffie asked rhetorically.

"Never mind that, Tifa and I just saw something super weird, will wait until the others get here before I explain." She got out her phone and began dialling everyone's number to check their status.

Everybody thus far was still alive, and just before she managed to dial Shaun's number, he appeared on the scene. "That was a lot easier than expected!" He said, delightedly, the two females suspected that he had not had a call from Charles.

Not long after the rest of them appeared, all of them now standing outside the huge entrance to the KGB HQ.

"Perhaps we should knock?" Cloud suggested, stretching out his arm. Before he managed to make contact with the door however, it simply swung open. Someone must be watching them.

They walked into the huge entrance hall where they found both Reno and Rude waiting for them, they both looked distinctly uncomfortable with the situation. "The president is waiting for you…" Reno began, gesturing towards a security coded door which Rude opened for them.

The parasites walked through into the main mission room. It was extremely plain now. Most of the computers were off and the main map table had now been overturned in apparent frustration. Rufus was not present however, which caused both Reno and Rude to wear very confused expressions.

X

"_Time to use the 'ace in the hole'?" _Nicholi asked Rufus from the mirror, they were in Rufus' quarters.

Rufus walked over to the wall which was adorned with guns, Shiva as always right beside him. He pulled on one of them, which acted as a switch. The wall on the opposite side of the room shifted to one side revealing a small safe. He and Shiva walked over to it and began entering the combination on the dial. A few moments later the safe clicked. Rufus turned the handle and opened the door. Inside was a small white orb which he picked up and pocketed.

He looked briskly back into the mirror through Shiva's eyes. _"The time is right, wouldn't you say?" _Rufus then swiftly exited the room, and they made their way through the labyrinthine passageways of the building and back into the main mission room, where everybody was waiting for him.

"So we have both failed it would seem." He addressed Cloud and his companions, "An extreme sense of de ja vu wouldn't you say?" Rufus went on.

"This time it's different." Cloud replied, taking a few steps closer to him in defiance, "This time we are going to destroy him and ergo destroy meteor."

"Confident." Rufus speculated, beginning to pace in front of the group, Shiva remained idle. "How do you intend to do that then? You don't even know where he is!"

"Do you?" Cloud asked, regrettably knowing the answer.

"Not the foggiest." Rufus replied, still pacing. "But that does not matter, we don't need to find him in order to destroy meteor, I have the means to do that right here!"

All of them watched with interest as Rufus extracted from his pocket the white orb which he had obtained from the safe. Everybody present seemed to know exactly what it was, several of them gasped, Cloud took another few steps forward.

"Where did you find that!?" He asked, looking at the materia with interest.

"Irrelevant, we have it and it can destroy meteor." He proceeded to roll up his sleeve in order to insert it into his arm.

"Wait!" Shouted Yuffie, also taking a few steps forward, "You can't use that, none of us can! Only she could use it!" Rufus looked over at her and laughed.

"Well the ancient girl isn't here nor is she even alive, so I will have to do for now." He replied, making a move as if to insert it into his arm.

Cloud pulled out his katana and pointed it at Rufus causing him to stop. "I can't let you do that, it might risk destroying the materia, our one and only hope!" The Turks all unsheathed their weapons and moved to the presidents side.

Everyone else readied themselves for battle as well. They severely outnumbered the Shinra. Rufus turned to Reno, Rude and Tseng. "Keep them busy won't you?"

He then turned with Shiva and fled towards the passageways of the building, heading towards the roof. Cloud was hot on his heels, leaving the rest of his companions to duke it out with the Turks. It was all Cloud could do to run as fast as he could to keep up with the pair of them. If he lost sight he would surely be lost in the building.

After several minutes of pursuit however, they finally reached a long spiral staircase with a trapdoor at the top of it. Rufus made his way up them as quick as he could, punched open the trapdoor and slammed it down behind him. Cloud, knowing he would have blocked it, threw himself at it with all his might and smashed through it.

Rufus was standing in the middle of the rooftop, Shiva between himself and Cloud. "Why do you persist Cloud, this will destroy meteor, that is surely what we both want?" He shouted.

"You can't wield it!" Cloud cried back in desperation, "None of us can!" He made a few steps advance towards Rufus, and Shiva readied herself for battle.

The Ice Queen was relentless, firing shard after shard of razor sharp ice at Cloud from her fingertips at such speed it caused Cloud to have to both dodge and deflect. In this world however, Shiva seemed to be versed in the art of hand to hand combat, she reached Cloud when he was off guard from dodging and skilfully kicked his katana out of his hands.

It was now a fist fight, something which Cloud was not very confident in. He could see Rufus' materia arm beginning to glow a bright white, pointing it directly towards meteor. Shiva managed to knock Cloud to the ground, she pounced on him and grappled his wrists. A horrible freezing sensation then started to spread from where her hands held him, and Cloud knew it was all over. He found it ironic how in his final moments on Gaia he had referred to this summon as weak.

Then quite suddenly, there was an almighty explosion from where Rufus Shinra was standing. Shiva let out a horrible scream and before Cloud, she simply evaporated into the air. Cloud looked over at where Rufus Shinra was once standing from where he lay. The white orb was hovering innocently in mid-air. Holy had backfired, Rufus was dead.

Cloud got to his feet and walked slowly over to where the materia was floating. He stretched out a hand and closed his fingers gingerly round it, it stopped emanating its white light and fell into his hand.

"Where's Rufus?" A voice said from behind him, looking round he saw Tifa on the rooftop. "The Turks are all unconscious down there."

"Rufus is dead, Holy killed him…" Cloud replied, holding up the materia, "…this is the only thing we have left, shame it is impossible to use…"

* * *

A/N - Next chapter will be uploaded on saturday, this is a promise we will keep! Hope you enjoyed it, as usual please review =). Til next time!

R&A


	29. Nothing's Impossible

Nearly at the end of our journey, hope you have enjoyed the ride so far!

* * *

**-Chapter Twenty-Nine-**

**Nothing's Impossible**

Ten hours to impact.

"Well I suppose taking out the threats in any order is better than not taking them out at all!" Yuffie said cheerfully to everyone. They were once again back on the jet to keep on the move, heading towards Ireland of all places.

"And we did manage to gain possibly the best weapon we can use against him…if we could use it…" Cloud continued, looking at all of his companions.

Yuffie then suddenly looked over at Tifa as though remembering something. "Alex said there was something she had to share with all of us, you never got round to it?"

Tifa looked at her. "Yes, would you rather she explained it, she was the one that witnessed it first hand after all." Yuffie nodded, and moments later Alex took control.

She first looked over at Reeve. "You told me to check the houses for people when we all noticed that the city was more deserted than we anticipated…" Alex began, starting to pace slightly, wringing her hands together. "Well the first I checked was deserted as we expected, the next one had an old woman in it though, and she was well…a little odd…"

"Comes with old age!" Cid joked.

"I don't mean that kind of odd!" Alex retorted. "I asked her where everyone was and she said 'what rock have you been living under', it isn't just Moscow apparently, cities worldwide are exactly the same." She looked straight at Reeve who considered this.

"I'm damned if I can understand that…" He answered, "…what else happened, you're yet to get to anything strange about her personally."

"Well…" Alex continued, choosing how to word this next part with care, "she died, right in front of me. But after she died it happened, a blue something kind of left her body and…well it made a break for it, smashed its way out of the window and flew away."

Vincent suddenly got to his feet and looked at her very seriously. "A blue something!?" He almost shouted, "Alex what exactly did it look like?"

"Like a kind of blue smoke ball like…thing…" She finished, rather lamely. Vincent looked like he was about to feint. "What is it?"

"She was a host!" He whispered in disbelief, making everybody around him gasp, "That's what happens when a parasite leaves the hosts body to move on. Alex where exactly did the wisp go?"

Alex was stunned. "I…I don't know!" She stammered, looking around at everyone, "Like I said it broke through the window and vanished."

Vincent collapsed into one of the chairs in stunned disbelief, trying to turn everything over in his head. So there was another parasite in this world even though they had all been re-united at last. But who could it possibly be?

"There's nothing we can do now…it's long lost, we are just going to have to focus on finding Sephiroth before…" Vincent gestured out one of the small windows where they could all see the approaching oblivion.

Reeve walked over to the television and switched it on to the familiar white noise. He then brought up the map screen to show their current location in comparison to their destination. "We'll be about another two hours…leaving us eight hours from when we touch down…"

"Why Ireland Reeve?" Cloud asked, walking to stand beside him to look at the monitor…

"I…I don't know, call it a feeling…an instinct…" He shut the television off and walked back over to where he was seated, "It just feels like the right place to go at the moment."

The airfield where they touched down two hours later was if possible even more deserted than the city that they had just come from. It was not completely empty however, they did see the odd face here and there, but nobody paid them any attention. The looming doom seemed to have made the public lose interest in hunting them down.

They walked to the nearby town, none of them really sure what they were looking for and all of them following Reeve's lead. It was barren and nearly deserted just as they had all expected.

"Reeve…" Cloud began, sounding a little bit annoyed, "we really can't just waste time like this, we have to…"

"Wait!" Reeve cut him off, looking at a building in the distance. He quickened his pace and walked over to it. They could tell from a distance that it was a pub, though exactly why Reeve was so interested in it was not immediately apparent, except for the fact that it was completely intact.

As they approached it however, the reason behind his excitement was obvious. Above the door, the name of what they now noticed to be an all too familiar bar read 'Seventh Heaven'.

"Oh but it has to be a coincidence!" Tifa said, looking at the golden emblazed letters. "Let's not forget guys, the bar was completely crushed by the plate." Nobody seemed to be listening to her, Reeve tentatively walked towards the door and pushed it open.

The modern exterior was just a front. Inside was, exactly the way they remembered it before it was destroyed, Tifa's bar, the Seventh Heaven. The few tables decked out and the lone pinball machine which hid the entrance to Avalanches lair, it was all there. Barret immediately ran over to the pinball machine and tried to get it to operate the lift in concealed. It did not respond however.

All but Yuffie, Vincent, Red XIII and Cid had been stunned into silence. "Anybody going to tell us what the hell is so damn special?" Cid asked.

"Back on Gaia…this was my bar in sector seven of Midgar…" Tifa replied. Reeve of course new this as well having worked for Shinra, "…but it was destroyed, completely destroyed! How is this even possible…"

"I think the words 'possible' and 'impossible' lost their weight the second we got here Tifa…" Cloud said, walking over to the bar and examining it, "…nothing's impossible anymore." He extracted the holy materia and began rolling it along the bar from hand to hand.

"Mind if I take a look at it?" Yuffie asked, Cloud was a little apprehensive, but handed it over none the less, even she wouldn't be reckless enough to try and use it.

She held it up to eye level and began to examine it closely. For some reason, and unbelievably overwhelming feeling of sorrow swept over her, as though the materia was showing her what it had witnessed it its existence. She threw it back over to Cloud, not able to look at it anymore.

He continued to roll it from hand to hand, still marvelling at the location they were at. Tifa had walked behind the bar and checked that it was all exactly the way she remembered it. She looked at Cloud. "Can I get you something to drink then stranger?" She asked. They looked at each other for a moment, and both began to laugh.

It was amazing, for the first time since meteor had been summoned, despite the whole hopelessness of the situation, this little piece of home seemed to bring them a flame of joy which did not feel like it could be extinguished by anything. The laughter seemed to be catching between the companions, and before they all knew it, Tifa had poured them all a drink, and they were truly, unstoppably happy.

The task ahead of them of defeating Sephiroth did not only seem possible now, it seemed simple, like nothing could stop them. "He had better not disappoint us now!" Barret joked, slamming down his glass on the bar, "All this skill he has been &*(& showing off, better be a good fight!" They all laughed again.

"Like I said…" Cloud smiled and held up holy, "…nothings impossible."

"Spoken like the true soldier you once claimed to be!" A voice boomed from the entrance of the bar. They fell silent and looked round at the new arrival, Cloud dropped the materia and it thudded on the bar, rolling towards Tifa who grabbed it. Standing in the entrance of the Seventh Heaven was none other than…

"Zack!" Cloud shouted, looking at the tall dark haired figure and getting to his feet. He ran over to him and embraced him like a brother, hugging him extremely tightly as if to check he was real. After finally releasing him he looked at him, "But how…how the…why…where…" He stammered, lost for words.

"Easy fella!" Zack said, patting Cloud on the shoulder. "One question at a time!" Everybody in turn walked over to him in equal disbelief and greeted him excitedly. "Now if you could all listen, I'm about to tell you everything…" He said, releasing Tifa from a tight hug who was the last to come over and see him.

Everybody stayed standing, unable to sit down from the excitement. Zack walked over to the bar and leant against it, looking at all of their stunned faces. "I suppose I should start with why we are all here." He began, grabbing their attention even further, "Anybody know?" Everybody in turn shook their head, Vincent then spoke however.

"The planets last line of defence against Sephiroth?" Vincent suggested to him.

"Yes…and no…" Zack replied, looking at him, "…even for the planet to achieve something like that it needs the aid of powerful magic, very powerful magic."

"Holy?" Tifa asked, holding up the orb.

"Partly. Holy was one form of magic the planet needed, another form was the black materia…" They all looked stunned, "…you cannot have 'good' without 'evil', the power of the two combined was enough to achieve this amazing feat, yet it needed one more thing, someone who could wield the magic."

Cloud had a sudden look of realisation on his face. "…Aeris!?" He almost shouted. Zack nodded.

"Again yes and no, Aeris could only ever wield holy, she would never ever be able to use the black materia. So that means the other person was…" He looked around at them all, "…anyone?"

"Sephiroth." Vincent replied simply, "But why? Why would he send us over here when he was literally on the brink of victory?"

"It was unintentional, something which he couldn't control. From what I can tell he was trying to neutralise holy's power with his own when he did it, accidentally breaking down the barriers between this world and ours…of course Sephiroth isn't even aware that he did this." Zack explained.

"You weren't even at the final battle though…you…you should be dead!" Cloud speculated, pointing this out for the first time and slightly dampening the mood. "I saw you die!"

"And what happens to us when we die Cloud?" Zack asked, knowing the answer, and making Cloud understand. "We return to the planet, the heart of which happened to be where you were fighting him at the time. We were both watching you, that's why Aeris did what she did and ergo we all ended up…" He looked around, gesturing to everywhere around him, "…here."

"So Aeris is here too? She's alive?" Cloud asked disbelievingly.

Zack turned towards Tifa. "You met her, I thought you would have worked it out by now…" He said to her.

"The old woman!?" Tifa asked, "Why didn't she reveal herself, why didn't she take over?"

"I assume if she could, she would have, the magic which she used to bring us all here has left her soul extremely weak however, taking over a host would more than likely have killed her completely. Don't think she hasn't been doing her bit however, why do you think all of the materia has been ending up in such locations?"

The stunned group looked at each other, everything seemed to be fitting into place. "That's right folks! It has all been her, she has been placing it where she thought you would be able to get to it best, putting it in places where one person alone would struggle but a team united would triumph. Of course she did not anticipate Sephiroth's power, nor did she consider just how ruthlessly Shinra and his Turks would hunt it all down…"

It was all beginning to make sense. So it was not the materia which was affecting the world around it, everything had been orchestrated after all, however not to the originally intended outcome. "One thing you might like to know however is that she always planned for Sephiroth to get the black materia."

This seemed to stun them all. "But why!? What on earth could be gained from letting him get hold of it again!?" Cloud asked, beginning to pace now, his hands behind his head as he thought.

"Because it is subsequently the only way you can beat him, there can be no good without evil, no black without white, light without dark. The second Sephiroth summoned meteor he damaged his defences greater than he knows. He knows sustaining the magic takes concentration, but he does not know the damage which it is doing to his power and ultimately his soul." Zack explained, then went on,

"The black materia does work differently in this world to ours, it leeches off of the user, slowly devours them entirely until the magic is complete and meteor has struck. It truly is the ultimate end, everybody on the planet may die from meteor, but Sephiroth will be utterly destroyed, no soul, no nothing, death would be preferable." Everybody was in awe at the story, this was beyond anything that they could ever imagine.

"You have exactly seven hours until meteor hits, you must strike in the final hour when he is at his weakest. Do not for a second think that this means it will be easy, the magic which connected our two worlds has grown extremely fragile, be prepared for absolutely anything." He looked at them all very seriously, "weakened though he may be, a tiger is at its fiercest when it senses the end."

"But how exactly do we kill him?" Tifa asked, holding up the holy materia expectantly.

"You will know what to do when the time comes." He said to her, causing her to pocket the materia.

"Do you know where he is?" Vincent asked Zack, looking expectant.

"I know where he will be." Zack replied, "He will be at the place which he crossed through into this world from ours, for you see there are only certain parts of the world where the connection is weak enough for us to cross over."

"And where is that?" Tifa asked.

"The same place both you and Red crossed over, it was all Aeris could do to group some of you in the same place as him to keep him in check, or at least that was her original intention, things seemed to have worked out quite differently." He looked at both Tifa and Red XIII.

"And where exactly did we cross over?" Red asked, looking at him confused "Can't say I have a clue where to begin there."

"Of course you do!" Zack replied encouragingly, "Think now, where did you appear when you first entered this world, and what to you looks like a significant point in which you could have come from?"

Both Tifa and Red looked at each other, then Tifa began to speak to Alex who was speaking excitedly in her mind. "Stonehenge?" Tifa asked.

"What you mean that pile of bricks with the thingy in the middle?" Red asked, "you think we came from there?"

"Makes sense doesn't it? Nobody knows what the true purpose of those stones is." Tifa was almost certain she was right, and turned to Zack for confirmation.

"You see, I told you you knew." He smiled at her. "Sephiroth knows that this is where he crossed over from, I believe he thinks it is only fitting for the end to be there as it is where it all began."

"You know for certain he will be there?" Cloud asked desperately.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he is there as we speak, you have time still though to prepare, like I said you must fight him in the final hour." Zack moved into the middle of the room and looked at them. "You stand a good chance, like Cloud said, nothing is impossible."

"We stand a good chance you mean?" Cloud corrected him, "You are coming with us right?"

Zack shook his head. "My part in this story is over, I can help you no further, taking over my host is the end for me." All of them looked at him confused. "I am meant to be dead, no amount of magic can change that." He smiled at them, "I am glad that I could help you out for the final time…"

"But you have been here for all this time, you can't die now!" Cloud shouted at him, walking straight up to him and grabbing his shoulders.

He laughed, "My dear friend, I was never even truly alive…" A blue something started to force its way up Zack's throat, "…I'll be cheering for you guys…" He opened his mouth and the blue wisp shot forward from it and out the slightly open window.

Cloud was now grasping the shoulders of a man he had never met before who was currently unconscious, Zack's host. He laid him down on the floor gently.

"Well, that's it then, six hours to go until our fate is decided…" Vincent began, looking round at them all, "…this is it everyone, the fate of our two worlds will rest in our hands or in his." He checked the clock on the far wall, meteor would impact at midnight, such a fitting time for the final battle, for their final hour.

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A/N - Hope you enjoyed, reviews appreciated, have decided to do some fun little facts about this book at the end of the final chapter ^_^.

R&A


	30. When Worlds Collide

We are kind of sad to be uploading this... =(. For the final time, enjoy everybody!

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**-Chapter Thirty-**

**When Worlds Collide**

The time seemed to fly by in no time. Before they knew it, there was a mere two and a half hours to go before meteor was due to collide with the earth, one and a half hours to go before the final hour. They all boarded the jet for the final time.

"This is it." Cid said, getting into the cockpit and putting the engines into action. "Buckle your seatbelts everyone this is gonna be a bumpy ride!"

They took off and began to head east towards Stonehenge. None of them knew what to expect. Would Sephiroth even be there? They would soon find out. The quick flight seemed rather uneventful yet painfully too fast. One and a half hours to go until impact, half an hour to go until the final hour.

Suddenly, horrifically, the engines of the plane cut out. "What the!?" Cid shouted, he had left the plane on auto pilot and ran back into the cockpit. He attempted to restart them, but to no avail, something or someone had sabotaged the jet beyond repair.

"It's no good!" He cried, running back into the cabin. "We're gonna have to jump, tell me you have parachutes on this heap of junk Reeve?"

Reeve was already on the case, opening an overhead compartment. "What…" He began, throwing one parachute with every word, "Kind… of… Idiot… do… you… take… me for?" He said the final two words as he strapped his own parachute to his back.

The jet had begun to slowly lose height. "How far are we from Stonehenge!?" Tifa cried as they ran over to the door and released the emergency switch, causing it to fly off.

"Almost there, we will have to hurry!" Reeve shouted back, and without further ado he ran to the door and leapt out.

Nobody was hesitant to follow suit, and before long they were all in free-fall. Yuffie who had refused a parachute summoned the great Phoenix in mid-air and nose-dived on it towards the earth just as the rest of them released their parachutes and gently fell.

On the horizon they could see a huge beam of light connecting towards meteor. "At a guess I would say that is the place…" Tifa unnecessarily pointed out. Yuffie dismissed her Phoenix, and together they all began walking towards the beam of light, towards the final battle.

In the distance they watched as the jet finally collided with the earth and exploded in a spectacular ball of flame. It lit up the horizon brilliantly. None of them were too worried about casualty's considering just how few people there seemed to be left in the world.

"Zack never explained that…" Cloud said aloud, obviously thinking along these lines, "…where has everyone gone?"

"He said the barriers between the two worlds were becoming weaker…perhaps they have slipped through?" Vincent speculated. This seemed like the most likely option.

"Why only let certain people through though?" Cloud asked, "Doesn't make sense to me."

"Perhaps some things never will." Tifa replied.

They were growing ever nearer to the pillar of light. They could see Stonehenge now atop the hill on which it sat. There was someone there alright, and it could only be Sephiroth. Vincent checked his watch to see that it was five minutes to eleven. The final hour was about to begin.

All of them sprinted as fast as they could towards the hill, and within moments they were standing at the bottom of it, gazing up at the great construction which was Stonehenge. They began to climb, each step taking them closer to their final judgement.

"Why can't you all just be good boys and girls and die?" Sephiroth asked upon seeing them approach, he was standing on the stone in the centre of the circle. They halted their advance at the outer circumference.

"You first…" Cloud replied, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at Sephiroth, "your soul is going to be completely destroyed after this, whatever the outcome, you won't be able to come back anymore…I killed you once, I will kill you again…"

Sephiroth laughed mirthlessly. "We will see, old friend…" He put particular sarcastic emphasis on the final two words. From his right shoulder erupted a huge black wing, huge in length, and terrible to gaze upon.

Cloud ran at him, Sephiroth unsheathed the Masamune, and as their swords clashed, something incredible happened. There was a huge burst of white light which engulfed everybody, they could not see a thing…

Moments later when their vision returned, they were standing in what looked like a derelict run down church. Cloud and Sephiroth still with their blades locked. It stunned them for a few moments as they took in their new surroundings, and then Cloud realised where they were, this was the same church that he had fell through the roof of and met Aeris!

Sephiroth began attacking Cloud relentlessly, sending bolts of lightning over at the others at incredible rates, forcing them to scatter. Fighting in the confined space of the church was extremely difficult, none of them could summon effectively in here.

It was all Reeve, Barret and Vincent could do to keep firing at Sephiroth and attempt not to hit Cloud instead, which was especially hard for Barret, who could only safely fire his machinegun grafted arm when they were at considerable distance from each other.

Everyone else was resigned to casting whatever magic they had at him, even though he was a lot weaker however, he was still deflecting almost every single spell which came his way. He hit Yuffie with a strong lightning bolt, and Red was quick to cure her immediately, as he did so however, another huge white light engulfed them all.

Another church again, no, a cathedral, the cathedral Vincent had called them to at the dead of night. Yuffie was now the one in close proximity combat with Sephiroth, dodging all of the blows he threw at her with incredible agility. Cloud tried to join back in the close quarters combat, however something Sephiroth was doing seemed to deflect his efforts.

"What the hell!?" He shouted, unable to get within ten feet of the situation, Sephiroth laughed loudly.

"Wait your turn!" He joked, making another mad lunge at Yuffie, and then it happened.

Just as Reeve fired another bullet at Sephiroth, the reflective barrier he was so renowned for by now was erected. The bullet bounced back and hit him square in the forehead. Reeve had a stunned look on his face, then fell back gracefully into one of the pews.

"No!" Red shouted, running over to him, though there was nothing he could do now, another mirthless laugh sounded from behind him, and the white light engulfed them again.

They now found themselves in the familiar town of Kalm, only there were far more people inhabiting it than usual. From what they could tell, this is where some of the inhabitants of earth had ended up. It was extremely crowded, almost like a bustling market place, making it difficult to move.

Amidst the crowd though were two figures fighting, one man, and one bright red beast. There were cries of panic from the crowd as everyone scattered away. This enabled the rest of Red's allies to join back in on the fight, no time to grieve the loss of Reeve.

"Time to bring out the big guns…" Cloud shouted, making his arm glow red. The tiny dragon like creature that was Typhoon swept down from the sky. The summon seemed to be far more accurate with its attacks, it was able to sweep Sephiroth alone off his feet and send him hurtling into one of the nearby house walls, this was the first real bit of damage they had landed. There was no time to celebrate however, the light engulfed them again.

They were in a sealed room now, in the centre of the room was nothing other than the crown jewels themselves. They were at the tower of London. Cloud was in CQC with Sephiroth once more. The room was so small however that it was extremely difficult to make any kind of serious attack for anyone other than Cloud. Sephiroth managed to land a heavy cut on his chest, just as he did so however, Yuffie's shuriken hit Sephiroth's arm, cutting it. The light appeared again…

They were atop a huge fort this time. Fort Condor, and Yuffie was the one who was in close proximity combat once more. Not wasting anytime she summoned the great phoenix to her aid. Sephiroth took flight, as did Yuffie, the fight was in the air now, there was nothing the rest of them could do but watch.

The fight raged round the edge of the fort, whenever they got close enough Yuffie's allies fired bullets and magic as accurately as they could. It was all in vain however, Sephiroth with one mighty swing of his sword beheaded the beautiful creature, sending Yuffie into comatose. Everybody watched hopelessly as Yuffie fell to her death… Another flash of light.

A ceiling full of security cameras and a floor full of green felt tables. They were at the casino in which they had met Elena. Cid was forced into close combat now. It was horrible, whatever magic Sephiroth was using to ensure only one close fighter at a time rendered those such as Cloud, who had no attack materia, useless.

He went to summon again, disregarding the confined space, only to see that Typhoon had vanished from his arm. "Not again!" He shouted in despair, why was it happening this time. One of Barrett's many bullets then found its way into Sephiroth's wing. Another flash of light.

A long cannon over a body of water, they were on the main gun of Junon. Barrett was in close combat, which was extremely bad news for him considering he was a long ranged fighter. Sephiroth, deciding to try and take everyone out in one swoop, caused an explosion at the connecting end of the cannon, it began to fall into the sea. For good measure almost, he stabbed Barrett right through the heart and hovered as the cannon fell. Before it hit the water however, they were transported once more.

The fight was looking bleaker and bleaker, Sephiroth was picking them off one by one and there was nothing they could do to match his awesome power. Standing on the roof of the huge Golden Saucer, Vincent was the one finding himself dodging Sephiroth's blade now. His agility made this easier than his allies found it, and he even managed to sink a bullet into Sephiroth's shoulder, causing him to recoil in pain, the light returned once more.

"How many times is it going to do this!?" Tifa cried, she was now the one fighting and dodging, using her fire magic to great effect now she was near. All of a sudden a beam of golden light hit her eyes, and the world seemed to slow right down.

Knowing that Red must have been using his time magic Tifa wasted no time in landing blow after blow in Sephiroth's face, stunning him greatly and giving the team more of an edge. Just when they thought the tables were finally turning however, a halo appeared over Red XIII, and he fell to the floor stone cold dead. This was far different to what heartless angel used to do to a person, but the effort in using it seemed to cost Sephiroth dearly. More light.

Cid once again fighting with his spear the allies found themselves in the Louvre art gallery in Paris. "Why do you keep fighting?" Sephiroth taunted them all, there were only four of them left now.

Enraged, Cid summoned the thunder god Ramuh, not caring about the lack of space for effective use. Ramuh fired bolt after bolt at Sephiroth before finally landing one square in his chest. Another blinding transition.

They were now outside the mansion in Nibelheim. Vincent who was fighting once more, suddenly shivered, and moments later transformed into the terrible beast that was Chaos.

Sephiroth was not fazed by this, and the fight was taken into the air. Chaos seemed to be an equal match for him however, each opponent hitting one another an equal amount of times, were the tables turned at last? No, Sephiroth landed his sword straight in the beasts heart, and it transformed swiftly back into Vincent Valentine as it fell towards the ground.

In the blink of an eye they found themselves on the leaning supports what had once harboured the rocket of Rocket Town. Fittingly it would seem, Cid was fighting again, summoning the fire demon Ifrit and double teaming Sephiroth. The two of them together seemed to be a formidable force, hitting him time after time until Cid, getting overconfident, was grabbed by the neck.

Electricity flowed through his body at an alarming rate and seconds later, he fell to the floor immobile, just as Ifrit vanished into the ether. Only two remained…

Now they were on the ship which Sephiroth had stolen to reach the gulf of Mexico. Both Cloud and Tifa however were at a considerable distance. "You know this has turned out to be even more fun than I had anticipated…I am glad you all survived for me…" Sephiroth taunted.

"We survived so that we can kill you once and for all…" Cloud shouted back menacingly, "…there may only be two of us left, but that's more than enough to put you in the deepest circle of hell!"

He laughed manically, "So the eight of you weren't enough but you think two of you are more than enough, my my Cloud, you never cease to amuse me." The scene changed once more.

The forgotten city was their new arena. Cloud once more within fighting distance, Tifa doing all she could with her fire magic. It was no good however, he dodged every flame easily, leaving Cloud to do all he could with his katana.

Sephiroth seemed to be considerably weakened from all the fighting however. Cloud was finding it easier and easier to break through his defence. Just when he thought it was all going their way however, Sephiroth moved with the speed of a bullet behind Cloud and stabbed him through his heart from behind.

Cloud looked at Tifa for a few moments, registered the look of terror on her face, and then fell forwards into the same pool he had laid Aeris to rest in. The final flash of light.

Tifa and Sephiroth were back where it had begun, at the northern crater. It was all but over now, then Tifa was struck by an idea.

Sephiroth ran at her, and much to his surprise, she did not make any attempt to dodge, the sword went straight through her stomach, and their faces were two inches away from each other. He twisted the blade to cause her more pain, blood starting to come out of her mouth.

"My regards to Cloud…" He said menacingly.

"Tell him yourself…" Tifa replied, looking straight into his eyes.

She then plunged the white orb which was the holy materia straight into Sephiroth's chest. He screamed in terrible agony as Tifa sank to her knees from the wound she now bore. She looked up at Sephiroth trying to desperately remove the orb.

It was no use however, the light of the orb spread from his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes, and standing with his arms wide from the pain, Sephiroth exploded in a white light, leaving nothing behind.

Tifa, unable to fight it any longer, blacked out.

X

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, or perhaps it was no time at all. Regardless, twenty-six people now stood in what appeared to be a white void like space. There seemed to be no boundaries to this new area, it seemed to just be a limitless plain.

What stunned the occupants of this new area however, was that hosts and parasites were no longer joined, and all those who had been killed, including the likes of Elena and Rufus, were present.

"What happened?" Reeve was the first to break the awkward silence, stunned to hear that there was absolutely no echo to his voice, yet it still effortlessly carried through the void.

"Erm…" Tifa began, taking a step towards everyone, re-orientating herself, "…we won, I think?"

The twenty six people looked around and assessed who was there and, more importantly, who was not. It did not take long for them to realise the only parasite and host who were not present, and it was Alex who broke the tension.

"They're gone! Sephiroth and…" She paused, the gravity of what she was saying seemed to be weighing down on her like meteor itself.

"Josh…" Shaun finished for her, approaching her and putting a comforting arm on her shoulder.

"Destroyed entirely." Cloud said simply, remembering what Zack had said. He looked around for a moment as though expecting to see his friend appear through the crowd, after all he himself had just returned from the dead so this was not entirely unfeasible.

"He's not coming back," Tifa began, and Cloud wondered whether she was referring to Zack or Sephiroth, "he has lost, it's over!"

Something about their current predicament seemed to make joy a very difficult emotion. After all, they were all stuck in this prison like world with, what appeared like, no means of escape.

"That's not entirely true." A woman's voice echoed loudly from all around, making them all jump. "Yes Sephiroth is destroyed, yet the black materia can never be destroyed."

"Oh this is bulls**t!" Barrett boomed, his voice clearly audible over everyone else's protests to this revelation. "Destroy Sephiroth, stop meteor, that was always the deal!"

"Deal?" The voice replied. "You can't make a deal with destiny. I applaud you on your victory over Sephiroth, yet I have…distressing news." Everyone fell silent, and each of them was sure they knew what was coming. "Meteor must fall. I am sorry."

Nobody spoke. There was a long silence during which the harsh reality seemed to sink in to everyone. Rufus Shinra was next to address this unseen messenger.

"But that can't be right, the holy materia has the power to stop meteor, this much we know, so why can't it stop it now?" He looked up as he spoke. "And why won't you show yourself!?" He screamed the last two words, yet this did not have much impact in the void.

What appeared to be a cross between a ghost and a living being suddenly erupted in the centre of the crowd. It was a chilling sight, the figure was clearly female, yet her face was literally blank, a faceless entity.

The beings head turned towards Rufus, and although there were no eyes, he felt as though there was a gaze piercing through him. "You speak the truth," She began, and her voice echoed eerily around them, "fear not, all isn't lost yet, however your victory will come at a price."

"Price!?" Savina, who had made her way over to stand with her former parasite Yuffie, almost laughed. "Millions upon millions are dead because of this, you don't think that is a 'price'?"

The entity vanished, then suddenly reappeared inches away from Savina. She approached her, putting the blank hooded head within what seemed like centimetres from Savina's face.

"I don't make the rules," It began in a whisper more chilling than before, "I merely recite them." The being then glided gracefully backwards to stand in the centre of them once more. "Yes at a price. Sephiroth, one of the only men able to wield black materia, is obliterated. This has left the black materia rogue. In any other circumstance holy would be able to counteract this and shield against meteor."

The void suddenly changed, the group now found themselves floating in space above two planets. "Yet these are no normal circumstances, meteor is about to fall on two planets at once."

They all suddenly realised what they were looking at. Earth and Gaia, side by side, a projection of the entity showing them their dilemma. "I'm sorry, I truly am, but I'm afraid it is time for you to make a choice. Holy can stop one meteor and one meteor only, you must choose which."

The void went white again. "You have ten minutes. Choose." The entity had vanished.

The power of their location seemed to stop them from panicking, which is what each of them would have done in this situation. Vincent spoke first, and much to everyone's grief, he sounded defeated.

"All that we have fought for, all that we did, and still we have lost…" He crouched down on the floor, standing seemed like too much effort at this stage.

"Come on now let's think about this." Alex began, "We can't let this thing impact on Earth, billions of people would die!"

"Don't start making this a numbers game!" Cloud snapped at her angrily.

"Stop it both of you!" Reeve cut in, "Alex is right. Think about it, the meteor will obliterate Earth but there is always a chance Gaia will survive, it survived it once before it can survive it again."

Cloud reluctantly backed down. "Fine, but we are going back there and we are going to do what we can…"

The entity suddenly appeared. "Nice to see you aren't wasting time." Two portals suddenly appeared on either side of her. "If it truly is your choice to return to Gaia, take the portal to my left." She gestured towards it, "To return to earth, the portal to my right." She gestured again.

The former hosts wasted no time in making towards the portal bound for earth. In no time, only Cloud and his companions remained in the void, though this was not by choice, the entity was preventing them from moving. "You have one more choice to make," It began, "holy needs to be wielded, and only one of you can do this. Do not make this decision lightly, whoever takes this path will be bound to Earth, unable to return, forever."

They all looked at each other, their grief mirrored on each other's faces in the white light.

X

Epilogue

The mysterious entity had made good on its promise and more. Holy had done its job, meteor was obliterated, yet it was what happened after that stunned the lone warrior who chose to wield its power.

Time collapsed, and after what felt like a millennia, our hero found themselves right back at the time when it had all began, the first day they had arrived on Earth, one year ago.

Not bound to another and free to go their own way, they felt it their duty to seek out their former host. Oddly, they had ended up in London after the collapse, a far cry from where they had begun last time. It took them a while to get their bearings before making their way to a train station.

Just as they were about to board the train however, they saw none other than Savina. They caught each other's gaze for a split second, yet no recognition was reflected in Savina's eyes.

One journey, two weeks and one job application later, our warrior found themselves sitting in front of a posh looking desk, behind which sat a formidable looking woman.

"Well I must say," The woman began, flipping through some paperwork in front of her, pausing every so often to read the odd line here and there, "As far as CV's go, this one certainly did jump off of the page."

"Thank you."

"It does however pose the question," The woman set the CV down and picked up a cup to take a sip of her drink, "what has drawn you to this job?"

"I'm looking to pass on my knowledge."

"Indeed," She set her cup back down on the desk and got to her feet, "Well the job is yours pending all our regular employment checks." She extended her hand, "Welcome to the team Ms Lockhart."

"Thank you," Tifa got to her feet and shook the headmistress' hand. "lets see if we can get these teenagers interested in fencing."

"I have every confidence you can." She replied, a grin creeping onto her face.

Leaving the office, Tifa made her was round the college towards the Café. It was strange to walk around without getting odd looks off of people, not having a voice in her head give her directions, and feeling relatively at home with her surroundings.

Reaching the Café and purchasing a coffee to go, Tifa turned round and scoped the room. She found exactly who she was looking for sitting by the far window. Not wanting to test a theory of hers yet, she made to leave. Just as she reached the door however, she caught Alex's eye. They looked at each other for a moment. She was sitting with Shaun who didn't seem to notice her at all. Josh was nowhere to be seen, and Tifa wondered if anybody remembered him. Perhaps Tifa was imagining it, yet she thought there was some look of understanding in her eyes, a feint heir of recognition. A small smile crept onto Alex's face.

Tifa smiled back, then looked away and left the building, there would be plenty of time to see if she remembered. Plenty of time to talk face to face as teacher and student, not as host and parasite.

**THE END**

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Final Note from the Authors

It has been a long journey and it is our pleasure to pen in the title word as our final in the book. To our readers we must say that the ending took much thought and deliberation (as well as several alternate endings we weren't entirely happy with) this has always been the way we intended to end it, and we can truly say that this is our vision.

It is worth pointing out that we are not intending to write a follow up on what happens to Cloud and his companions unless we are drawn back to this story, however it is safe to say that the door will always remain open.

A word about the entity; This is not a random character, we shall say no more =).

And finally a big thank you to everyone who has read this, we set out to write a truly original story amongst the 38,000 that are here already, and we feel we succeeded and hope you do too!

Fun Facts

We vow never to write a story under 100,000 words, this is our third finished 'Novel Length' piece of fiction =).

At time of writing, the 98th FFVII story to be 100,000 words and complete, woop!

To all those who may think we are ripping off Stephanie Meyer's 'The Host' NOPE! We began writing this 15/2/2007, a clear year before. So yeah, see ya in court Stephanie! =D

Following on from the last point, probably the story we need to apologise about most for delayed updates, hope it was worth the wait!

Next story is in planning stages with working title of 'Adrift'. (Not FFVII)

'Parasite' has been written and edited on three separate laptops.

The idea was conceived in the drama block of our (R+A's) college, and much planning was done in a music room xD.

First time we have written fun facts to accompany a story, fact!

Has caused too many arguments over plot disagreements between authors =(.

Thought of the title before we thought of the plot!

By the time we had finished we had googled more places on google earth and searched air travel times than we thought we would ever have to xD.

Currently watching Graham Norton and procrastinating uploading this, I hate endings =(.


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